How To Raise A Racecar
by 0lemons0
Summary: The young couple, Lightning McQueen and Sally Carrera, welcome a new stage in both of their lives: parenthood. But, being new parents, there will be a few bumps in the road.
1. Prologue

**ANNOUNCEMENT: I will be rewriting all chapters over the next few weeks. It'll still be the same story, don't worry. However, there will be minor changes. It's all up to your interpretation as to whether or not it's significant. Personally, I don't think it is. My reason for doing this is that I started the story a long time ago, so my writing skills have improved. I think I'd be able to get even more readers if I fix up all the poorly written areas. Other than that, thank you, loyal readers. I appreciate every single one of you!**

**Prologue**  
"Sally, your eyes are gorgeous.", said Lightning. Sally and Lightning were inside of their cone. It was late at night and they were parked by lit candles that made the cone have a soft romantic glow. They were both sipping oil. Sally gently kissed Lightning. He smiled.  
"I love you.", Lightning said softly. Sally went to kiss him again but a knock was heard on their garage door. Lightning's attention was pulled away.  
"Who could that be this late..?", Lightning asked. He turned around and hit a switch with his tire. The garage door started to open. They both stared at the bottom of the door as it creeped up to see the tires of the unknown car before its face. As soon as a rusty brown bumper was visable, Lightning rolled his eyes. Then the door opened all the way.  
"Hiya buddy!", yelled Mater. Sally cringed at the volume of his voice. Mater looked past Lightning and Sally and saw the candles and then he grinned. "Mater, me and Sal-"  
"Ohh boy!"  
"Sally and I-"  
"I knowed you saved some of them there candles for me!"  
Sally giggled. Lightning wasn't all that amused. He just wanted to be alone with Sally for a while.  
"Why are you here, Mater?", asked Lightning.  
"Well actually I'm here because...well.."  
"What is it, Mater?", asked Sally.  
"Well Bubba is here! Remember from our Race-O-Rama?"  
Sally gasped. Lightning revved his engine.  
"Is he messing with you again? Tell me."  
"Baby, no! You'll get hurt!", Sally warned. "I can take him.", Lightning replied.  
"No Lightnin' you don't understand..he ain't back for me. He's back for you!", said Mater.  
"Back for me..? What did I do?"  
"He finally learned that you was the one helpin' my racin'. He says he wants to get rid of me! Startin' from the source! That's you!"  
"So..he's mad because I tipped you in on a small racing trick? ONE small racing trick?"  
"Mmhm!"  
"He is going to hurt ME because YOU beat him?"  
"Yeah! What are we gonna do? Set up 'nother race?"  
"No, Mater we need to settle this in a mature manner..no more racing to try to solve problems with this guy. You do realize that I didn't help you in any huge way right? It was you who raced him and it was you who won. All I did was tell you how to stick those Rustbucket Stadium turns better."  
"Well I know'd that! He don't know that!"  
Lightning signed. He shut his eyes slowly. "Well I'll talk to him tomorrow morning."  
"Uh...buddy...I don't think you could wait that long.."  
"Goodnight Mater."  
Lightning stretched his tire out at hit the switch that closes the garage door.  
"No wait! WAIT!", Mater begged as the door was closing. But the door shut anyway. Mater stood parked outside of Lightning and Sally's cone.  
He sniffled and in a soft weak voice he said, "Help me.." The truth was that Lightning could wait longer but Mater just didn't feel safe. He doesn't have a romantic partner next to him and he doesn't have a Lightning McQueen next to him to protect him.  
Lightning reached over to Sally's tire and he started to rub it. "Now.", started Lightning. "Where were we?" Sally smiled sweetly.


	2. New Beginnings

**~Chapter 1~**  
The sun rose from the North East and shined on Radiator Springs. The sunlight came through Lightning and Sally's window and the shades made lines on their hoods. Lightning and Sally were still sleeping. Sally only has mattresses in cones when a car was living there or staying for a really long time. Otherwise she uses those little mats the cars just park on. Lightning's right rear tire was hanging off their mattress and his mouth was hanging open. A little spot of drool nestled in the corner of his mouth. Sally was leaning her front bumper on her left front tire like a pillow and Lightning was doing the same thing except with his right front tire. Her right front tire was holding Lightning's left front tire. Their hoods gently bobbed up and down from their breathing. Their pillows which were supposed to have their front bumpers on were off the mattress and on the floor. Their blanket was scrunched up at their rear tires. Sally's rear tires were spread. One would say those two were adorable.  
**-7 hours later-**  
"LIGHTNIN'!", yelled Mater from outside their cone's garage door. Lightning groaned and stuggled his eyes open. He squinted at the little cone alarm clock. The time read 1:00 PM. His eyes widened and he gasped. He looked at Sally. He smiled at her sleeping face.  
_"She's an angel...I won't wake her."_, he thought. He rolled off the mattress and opened the garage door with the switch. When the door opened, Mater examined Lighning. Lightning's eyes were a little bloodshot at the sides of his windshield. He saw Sally was still laying down and sleeping.  
"Dad-Gum! You was asleep?", Mater guessed. "Yeah we were up really late last night.", said Lightning.  
Mater studied the floor with the pillows on it inside the motel room and the scrunched up blanket on the edge of the bed.  
"What were you doin'? Fightin'?"  
Lightning looked down at his hood. There were very tiny scratches on it.  
Lightning studdered, "Yeah, f-fighting."  
"Well, whatever you was fightin' 'bout I'll leave ya to your privacy."  
Lightning exhaled and smiled. "I'll tell you. But you can't tell anyone else, okay?"  
"What?"  
Lightning started to whisper something to Mater.  
Mater smiled and put out his tire in front of Lightning. Lightning turned to check if Sally was still sleeping and when he saw she was, he turned back to Mater, smiled wide, then slapped his tire with his.  
"So, what's up?", asked Lightning. Mater's jaw dropped and he said, "Don't you remember? You need to talk to Bubba for me. Look what he did!"  
Mater showed his left side to Lightning. There was a giant dent in his door and it looked like rust was knocked off. Lightning's face quickly turned from calm to furious and he revved angrily.  
"I'm so sick of this guy.", said Lightning. "Well then come and beat 'em up fer me.", Mater replied.  
Lightning sighed. He already told Mater he wasn't going to fight Bubba.  
"See ya later! Just drop by and we'll go!", said Mater and he was on his way. Lightning turned to Sally and drove over to her. He nudged her fender lightly with his hood.  
"Hey.", Lightning said softly. "Hey, wake up sweetie."  
Sally opened her eyes slowly. She saw the sun high in the sky. "What time is it?", she asked.  
"One-ish.", Lightning replied.  
Sally groaned. "That late?", she asked.  
"That late.", Lightning replied.  
Sally thought for a moment then her eyes widened. She looked over at Lightning and said, "I need to go to Doc's later." Lightning gave Sally a puzzled look. "Well I need him to check something for me.", she continued.  
"Are you okay?", asked Lightning. Sally nodded and said, "I'm fine."  
Lightning sighed. "Well, I'm going to go talk to Bubba."  
"Be careful!", Sally warned. Lightning smiled. He was happy that she cared so much. He drove out of the cone and down the road toward Mater's. Sally quickly left as well and sped to Flo's V8 Café. There was loud music from the 50s playing. It was hard to hear.  
"Flo!", she called out. "Flo!"  
Mia and Tia were taking orders from cars.  
"She's inside!", yelled Mia. "Thank you!", Sally replied.  
Sally drove to the drive through sign and made the left needed to get to the window.  
"Flo!", she called out again. Flo turned around and drove to the window.  
"Hey sweetie! What can I get you?", she asked.  
"You can start by giving me some courage.", Sally said.  
Flo lifted one of her eyelids. "I don't understand what you mean, Sally."  
"Well I need someone to come with me to Doc's and since you're my b-best friend I want you to come w-with me. To Doc's.", Sally's voice was a little shaky.  
"Aww no problem. Come on, girl."  
"Thank you, Flo."  
Flo left the little kitchen/office and drove next to Sally.

When they arrived at Doc's, Sally lightly pressed her hood through the swinging doors with Flo following close behind. It was different. Before the town was popular again, it was just an examination room with the supplies. Now, there was a whole waiting room and reception desk. There was still just one examination room though. Sally looked around the waiting room.  
"Can I help you?", asked a female voice.  
Sally looked at the desk and saw a yellow GTO. "Yes, I need to see Dr. Hudson today.", answered Sally.  
The GTO typed something in her computer, looked up at Sally and said, "Very well. Please park in the waiting room."  
Sally turned around and parked with Flo.  
"Hm..she didn't seem to be too interested in you wanting to see Doc.", noticed Flo. "Why do you say that?", asked Sally.  
Just then, Doc rolled out of his office and looked at the GTO.  
"Hey, who is my next-", Doc started. He noticed something on the GTO's computer screen. Doc sighed. "Nurse GTO, please, get off your HoodBook page."  
Nurse GTO's yellow hood started to get a little red where her eyes met her hood. She was embarassed.  
"She's right there, doctor."  
She pointed to Sally. Doc smiled big.  
"Come on in, Sally. You too, Flo. If Sally wants you to." Sally nodded to Flo to give her the okay. They both drove into his examination room. Doc closed the door behind them.  
"So...what's wrong?", asked Doc. Sally looked at Flo and then to Doc. "Well, Doc..I'm..in need of a bit of a test.", she said.  
"Oh..?", asked Doc. "What's wrong?"  
"Nothing is wrong.", said Sally.  
"Why was your voice shaky before then?", asked Flo.  
Sally smiled. Flo and Doc looked at Sally with puzzled faces. Then Sally laughed.  
"Uh..Sally?", Doc asked.  
"I want to see..if..", Sally started.  
"If?", asked Flo.  
Just then, Doc's mouth dropped, Flo smiled wide, and she jumped up and down on her tires.  
Flo said loudly, "You and Lightning are planning a-!"  
"SHH!", Sally answered.  
"Well good thing cars are able to tell fast...", said Doc. "Just come here on the lift and I'll tell you what to do."  
Lightning arrived at Mater's. When he looked inside of his yard, Bubba had Mater hanging on his tow cable.  
"Git me down!", Mater demanded.  
"Nope!", said Bubba. Bubba started to swing Mater around.  
"Let me down!", Mater demanded again. Bubba laughed. "Let me down!", Bubba mocked.  
Lightning rolled his eyes and drove into his yard. "C'mon, Bubba. Don't you ever get tired of being a bully?", said Lightning to Bubba's back. Since Mater was hanging on Bubba's tow cable behind him, he was looking right at Lightning.  
"Hiya, buddy!", Mater exclaimed.  
"Hey, Mater.", said Lightning.  
Bubba lifted Mater up a little more, then flung him down hard. Pain surged through Mater's shocks. Bubba turned around and looked at Mater. He pushed Mater out of the way of his sight of Lightning.  
"Oh yeah?", asked Bubba. "What are you going to to about it, Racecar?"  
"Grow up, Bubba..really.", said Lightning. "This stuff is getting a little-"  
Bubba rammed his tire into Lightning's face.  
"OW!", yelled Lightning.  
He sunk his hood to the floor and brought his tires us to cover it. His eyes started to tear a little.  
"Heh, you was sayin'?", teased Bubba.  
"GIT AWAY FROM MY BES' FRIEND!", Mater screamed.  
Mater jumped up to land on Bubba, but Bubba caught Mater with his tow hook and flung him back to the ground again. Mater was breathing hard.  
"You wanna see your best friend?", asked Bubba. "SEE 'EM!"  
Bubba pulled Mater, swung Mater around him, and let him go.  
"AHHHH!", yelled Lightning. He saw Mater about to fly into him.  
It was too late.  
A sharp bash was felt in Lightning's left side. Lightning groaned.  
"HEY!", called a deep male voice. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?"  
Bubba rolled his eyes to the voice. It was Sheriff.  
"O-Oh...", Bubba studdered. "They was just fightin' and I was stoppin' it."  
Sheriff rolled his eyes. "You boys are so immature.", said Sheriff. "Lightning, Sally needs you. She's at Doc's."  
Lightning could feel his engine sink.  
"Is she okay?", Lightning worried. Sheriff turned his tires out, shrugging. Lightning sped out of Mater's garage into Doc's. He stopped at the reception desk.  
"I need to see a woman named Sally Carerra!", yelled Lightning. He was panting. Nurse GTO pointed to the examination room. She noticed the dents all over him.  
"Are you okay, Lightning?", she asked. Everyone knew Lightning so that's why she knew his name. Lightning ignored her and sped into the examination room. Doc, Flo, and Sally looked at him. There were no smiles on their faces.  
"What happened to you?", asked Doc.  
"You're dented all over!", said Flo.  
Sally's eyes started to get red.  
"I'm not the important one right now and I think I know that, Flo.", Lightning answered. He noticed Sally's eyes  
. "Sally..", he started.  
"Come on, Flo. Let's leave them alone.", said Doc. Flo nodded and drove out with Doc.  
"You...You said you were just going to t-talk to him..", said Sally.  
"He started it.", mummbled Lightning.  
"You promised."  
"I was just talking to him, but then he punched my in the face!"  
"Then what's that dent on your left side?"  
"That was Mater."  
"Mater hit you!"  
"No...Bubba threw Mater and he bashed into me."  
Sally was silent.  
"Sally, are you okay?"  
"Lightning, you've loved me for..a while now right?"  
"Yes of course! With all of my heart. You know that, Sally. You know that I would do anything you wanted. You know that I would go to the ends of the Earth just to get you something. You know that I would never leave you. You know that you're all mine. You know that I would accept any changes that happen to you and even to me."  
Sally's eyes widened. They were red from the tears before. "Accept any changes that happen to me...and you?", she repeated.  
Lightning nodded. "Yeah, anything. Sweetheart..you know that."  
"I'm glad you said that, Stickers.."  
"Why?"  
Sally looked at Lightning with an unmistakeable expression. The corner's of her mouth pulled up a little bit and she smiled. Lightning gasped.  
"L-Last night? When we were fighting?", he asked.  
"Fightning?"  
"No..that was something Mater said but, l-last night?"  
"Yeah."  
Lightning started to breath heavily.  
"Oh...oh...oh my...oh my manufacturer..."  
Sally teared up with happiness. "I know!"  
Lightning looked at Sally. They were both silent. Lightning stared into Sally's beautiful green eyes and Sally stared into Lightning's amazing pools of blue eyes. Flo bashed through the doors of the examination room.  
"So! How do you feel about it Lightning!", she yelled in excitement.  
"Flo! You can't just do that!", Doc said.  
Lightning laughed lightly and asked, "You were both listening to that whole thing?"  
Flo and Doc looked down at their hoods and nodded in shame. Lightning looked back at Sally. Sally smiled even bigger, with her teeth showing.  
"So?", Sally said softly.  
"Uh...so...", he started. Sally noticed Lightning eyes getting a little lazy and were closing.  
"Lightning? Lightning! Can you hear me?", Sally worried. Lightning turned on his side. He fainted.


	3. Be a Man

**~Chapter 2~**  
Lightning's eyes fought gravity and opened slowly. His eyes ached and his sight was still blurry. He looked toward a light blue blob in front of his face.

"Lightning? Are you alright?", asked the light blue blob. It sounded like Sally.

"How ya feelin', son? I fixed you up. You're dent and scratch free.", said a dark blue blob. That blob sounded like Doc.

"Urg...", Lightning groaned. Slowly, everything started to sharpen up and Lightning was able to see everything clearly once again

"What happened? I just remember me and Sally talking and...and then I'm just here in your examination room, Doc.", said Lightning.

"You were here before, remember?", asked Doc. Lightning thought for a moment.

"Uh...", he started. "Oh, yeah."

"Do you remember why you fainted?", asked Doc.

"Uh...", Lightning started. "Sally...Sally she...we..little car." Lightning turned on his side again.

"Hey, hotshot!", called Doc. He stomped his left front tire in front of Lightning. "Wake up!" Lightning's eyes opened up slowly once again.

"Ugh...what?", asked Lightning. Sally giggled.

"Lightning, you're going to be a daddy!", she said.

"A daddy?", he asked.

"Yep.", answered Doc. Lightning started to think about it.

_"Okay, little one.", said Lightning. "Time to show you how to turn!" _

_"But, dad! I already know how to turn!", said a male toddler car. _

_"Not on dirt you don't!", said Lightning. "See, basically, if you're going hard enough left, you'll find yourself turning right. You're going to be racing so you'll need to learn how to turn on everything at a fast speed. Even dirt. Even though most of the time you'll be racing on pavement." _

_"But I don't want to speed around in circles with people watching me! I don't even want to move on a hot day! I don't want to beat others. I don't want cups as rewards. I don't want to race!", yelled Lightning's son._

Those last five words stuck in Lightning's mind.

"Sally, our son doesn't want to race.", said Lightning. Sally raised a brow at him and laughed.

"Lightning..we didn't even have our baby yet!", said Sally.

"I was thinking about it, though.", said Lightning. "Do you think we're ready?" Doc stared at Lightning.

"Sally?", asked Doc. "Do you think you can leave me and Lightning alone for a minute?"

"Sure, Doc.", she said. Sally drove out of the examination room and waited outside in the waiting room. Lightning looked over at Doc.

"Lightning..let me talk to you.", said Doc.

"Okay..", said Lightning.  
"Lightning, I don't think you know how much Sally loves you. I don't think you know what her plans are."  
"What you mean..?"  
"What was the last thing she said to you before I kicked you out of here?"  
Lightning thought back.

_"You should go..", said Sally. _

_"I know but-", said Lightning. _

_"Good luck in California.", Sally said. She backed away a little. "I hope you find what you're looking for."_

"Yeah I remember..", said Lightning.

"Don't you know what she meant?", asked Doc.  
"Yeah..well, I thought I did until you said that."  
"She said that to hint at you that she wants someone for her. She wants love. She wants to have a family."  
"She has that doesn't she? Now?"  
"She came up to me, after you left that day. Do you know what she said? She found out that I called the media to pick you up. I told her that it was best for everyone. She said, 'Best for everyone? Or best for you?' and she started to drive away, staring at me with a death stare until she just drove off all the way. She drove down the street where you were leaving. She was about to chase you. She didn't. Why? Because she thought about what I said. It was best for everyone." Lightning exhaled.

"What are you trying to say, Doc?" asked Lightning. "That I'm not good enough? You know, I think I've changed a lot since then."  
"You want to know what I'm saying? I'll tell you! I'm saying, with the way you were raised, I don't think you should be a father at all!"  
Lightning swallowed hard. His eyes were windows to his now angry soul. His body started to shake. He opened his mouth. Then he closed it fast. Those nasty words that he was about to say, they weren't even worth it. Lightning's voice started to sound choked up.

"H-How I was raised?", he asked. "Wh-Where were you when-? You can't say anything about how I was raised! You can't! You don't know anything about my life before Radiator Springs! Nothing!"  
"You think I don't know?", asked Doc. "What? Wasn't I a racecar too? You think I don't know why cars decide to race in the first place? You think I don't know why they feel the need to have thousands of people screaming their name? You think I don't know why racecars love hearing people who supposedly love them?"  
Lightning's eyes started to tear up. Now, he was so choked up that he could barley say words, "D-Don-D-Do-Don't say it.."  
"Yeah, that's right kid. You know why. You know I know why."  
Lightning was still shaking. He was breathing hard and he closed his eyes.  
"Now, Lightning. Now that I have you in the state of mind that I want you in, tell me, honestly, do you think you could raise a car?"  
Lightning listened with his eyes still closed. He thought deep and hard. After a few minutes, Lightning opened his eyes and he stared at Doc, in a helpless way.

"I didn't think so.", said Doc. Lightning turned around and drove out of the examination room. He drove out looking down at his hood. He left the building. Sally was still in the waiting room. She saw Lightning just leave. She quickly followed him.

"Lightning?", asked Sally. Lightning looked up at her. She saw the pain in his expression.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?", she asked. Lightning snifflied and then slowly started to smile when he looked at Sally's face.

"I'm going to be a father. How can I not be okay?", he said. "Sally, let's have this car." Sally smiled very wide.

"Oh, Lightning!", she exclaimed. Lightning hugged her lips with his and pulled away.

"Sally, I love you." Sally cuddled Lightning.

"We love you too."

"You and the..little car?", asked Lightning.

"No, me and Mater.", Sally replied. She winked. Lightning laughed.

"Sally, I want to. I want to be a father."

"You'll be the greatest father in the world."

Lightning blinked for a moment remembering Doc's words. He rolled his eyes and gave Sally another kiss. Sally could feel Lightning smiling.


	4. I Propose Confusion

**~Chapter 3~**  
The midnight wind raced through town tonight. Lightning stared outside the window of cone number one. His gas tank turned at the thought of Doc's harsh words.

_"Was he saying it for the best?"_, Lightning thought to himself. He looked over at the angel next to him. The one that looked like a Porsche. He smiled. Sally could take away any of Lightning's problems. He sighed.

_"At least she's a light sleeper.",_ he thought again. Then he whispered aloud, "Four years."

Sally didn't wake. She just bobbed her hood up and down. Lightning watched as she breathed. He tried to match with her and their breathing was now in sync. Sally took a breath in, Lightning took one in. Sally exhaled, Lightning exhaled.

"Sally..", he whispered. Sally cracked one of her eyes open just a little bit. She peaked over at Lightning. He was parked in front of the window. Just staring out of it. Lightning didn't know she was now awake and listening.

"I wish I was able to tell you everything.", Lightning whispered, to what he thought was just himself listening. He looked up at the moon.

"S-Somewhere..s-somewhere..." He sniffled. "S-Somewhere...over the rainbow. W-Way up high. There's a land that I've heard of once...in a lullaby. S-Somewhere over the rainbow...skies...are blue. And..the dreams that you dare to dream.."

He sighed again.

"Really do come true." He looked up at the stars and sniffled.

"Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me...w-where...w-where troubles melt like lemon drops way above the chimney tops...that's where you'll find me."

A tear rolled from his eyes and down his hood. He continued to whisper the song.

"Somewhere..over the rainbow, bluebirds..fly. Birds fly over the rainbow..why...then why can't I? If happy little bluebirds fly..beyond the rainbow..why?...why can't I?"

Sally opened her other eye just a little like the other one and tears started to form. She wanted to just lean on him to make him feel better. Looking up at the moon, Lightning whispered more.

"Sally, I wish I could tell you..ugh..you know...the stuff Doc said to me before..he was right, Sally. Racecars are in it for the fake love. The parents of racecars..they aren't good, Sal. Cars become racers because their parents never played with them..their parents never talked to them..their parents never taught them anything. We all learned on our own. Most of our parents were racers too. They just crushed our dreams. They didn't want their kids to feel the way they felt. Lonely. But they were never home to kill any dreams because they were racecars. So we felt lonely anyway. They raced all the time and had no time for us. When they were home, they came home all..drunk from winning. They hit."

Lightning looked at his lucky sticker.

"My _lucky _sticker..I call it lucky because it covers a scar that's so bad. I've tried to get it fixed. It doesn't work." More tears rolled down Lightning's hood.

"It...it reminds me every d-day.." Lightning couldn't hold back anymore. The tear poured from his eyes. He was crying hard. Sally pretended that she was woken up from the crying. She turned to Lightning.

"Lightning..?", she whipsered.

"S-Sally!", Lightning called out. He had that 'crying voice'. Sally leaned her body against him.

"Shh...it's okay..", she whispered. "It's not okay!", yelled Lightning. "I'm...I'm...I'm a bad father!"  
"You're not a father yet..you don't know that! You're going to be great!"  
"I'm a RACECAR!"  
Sally flinched. She pulled away from Lightning and backed away slowly. Lightning drove toward her breathing heavily again.

"Am I ugly?", asked Lightning. Sally gave Lightning a puzzled look.

"AM I?", he asked, louder.  
"No, Lightning!", Sally yelled back. Tears rolled from her eyes! "No!"  
"Liar!"  
"I'm not lying! I love you! I LOVE YOU!"  
Lightning drove forward into Sally, slowly. He was still breathing hard. Sally was backing up while he did that. She felt a bump on her rear bumper. She looked in her right sideview mirror and saw the wall of the motel room. She couldn't back up anymore. Lightning was in her face. She could feel his heavy breath on her front bumper.

"D-Don't hurt me..",she whispered. Lightning stopped breathing. He stared at her.

"_Hurt _you?", he asked. He laughed. "I'm going to do something that _should _have been done a LONG time ago!"  
Sally opened her mouth to scream but Lightning forced his lips in the way and kissed her. He pushed her against the wall more. Sally could feel the pressure in her body building up. He was crushing her.

"Wightning, wa waby! Yew'll hurt wa waby!", she couldn't say the words correctly with Lightning's lips on hers. He pulled away.

"This should have been done a _long _time ago...", said Lightning.

"W-What?", she asked, even though she was afraid to. Lightning backed up and smiled at Sally.

"Marry me?"


	5. The Verdict

**~Chapter 4~**  
Sally was talking with Mater who missed everything. She just finished telling him that she and Lightning were having a baby and how crazy Lightning acted the night before.

"So then, he asks me to marry him!", said Sally.

"What'd you say!", asked Mater in an excited way.  
"I said no."  
"WHAT!"  
"He scared me last night! I don't want to marry a monster!"  
"Well you told me 'bout what he was sayin' to himself before he snapped at ya."  
"So?"  
"Sounds like he's under lots-o-pressure!"  
"Yeah.."  
"You gonna give 'em another shot?"  
"I never left him..I just told him that I might not be ready."  
Mater blinked.

"Hey..", he said.

"What?", asked Sally.  
"You told me that Lightning said he may not be ready for a tiny car. You said to him that he was gonna be great! He needs 'ta give it a try."  
"So?"  
"So you should give 'em a try!"  
"Mater, I love him with all of my heart..but last night, that wasn't him. Something was wrong. I think it's more than the baby."  
"Ask 'em 'ta talk 'ta ya."  
Sally thought about it.

"You're right, Mater."  
"Where is he?", asked Mater.  
"He's in our cone crying still. From last night. From when I said no."  
"Say yes 'ta 'em!"  
Sally laughed.

"Bye, Mater."  
"Bye...Mrs. Sally!"  
Mater saying 'Mrs. Sally' instead of 'Miss. Sally' made her a bit happy.

_"Maybe I am ready.."_, she thought.  
Sally arrived at their cone and she went inside. Lightning was laying on the mattress with his rear tires spread out and his front tires clutching a pillow which he had his mouth buried in. He was crying very hard.

"Lightning..I'm sorry.", said Sally, softly. Her voice sang to Lightning like a beautifully composed song. He stopped crying but kept his mouth buried in the pillow.

"T-This pillow...smells like y-you.", said Lightning. "I love the way you smell..and...I love you."  
"Lightning, you know I still love you. I just thought that I wasn't ready...to be married."  
"Maybe me and you can learn t-together?"  
"What?"  
"I can..get used to being a father and you can get used to being married..to me."  
Sally smiled and drove closer to him.

"That's a great idea, baby." She kissed his side. Lightning took his mouth away from the pillow and turned to face Sally. He kissed her lips. Then they kissed again. Again. More. Lightning pulled away with a big smile.

Hours later, it was now night time.

"Come on everybody! Dinner!", called out Flo. Everyone in town parked in at Flo's. Lightning couldn't take his eyes off of Sally. There was chatter all over the place. Doc and Sheriff were talking about his weight, Ramone was talking to Fillmore, Sarge was commenting on Ramone and Fillmore's conversation, Guido and Luigi were talking in Italian, Bubba kept pushing Mater every time he tried to take a sip of oil, Lizzie was asleep, Red was giggling, and Lightning and Sally were whispering, giggling, and cuddling. Flo came out with oil, steaks, and baked potatoes for everyone, except Fillmore. Flo gave Lightning and Sally only one can of oil.

"Um..Flo..there's only one can here.", Sally mentioned.

"Yes.", said Flo. "But two straws." Flo winked. Lightning lightly nudged Sally and Sally smiled and nudged him back.

"Alright everyone! Dig in!", said Flo.

"Wait! Excuse me..", Lightning called out. Everyone looked at him. Lightning drove to the middle of the gas station.

"Lightning what are you doing!", asked Sally. Lightning ignored her.

"As you all should know by now, me and Sally are having a baby.", said Lightning. Everyone cheered.

"Wait! Wait! I just want to say something to you..", he continued. He looked at Sally.

"Sweetheart, come here." Sally's eyes widened and she smiled big. You could hear whispers from everyone. Sally approached Lightning.

"Y-Yes?", she asked.

"Feel my lucky sticker.", said Lightning. Ramone and Mater started laughing. Flo glared at them and they stopped. Sally ran her tire over his sticker lightly. There was a bump. Sally gasped.

"Peel it.", said Lightning. Sally pulled at it with her tire and it came off. All she saw was a flat scar that couldn't have possibly made that bumpy feeling.

"Look under the sticker..", said Lightning. Sally looked at the sticker and turned it over. There was a ring sticking to it.

"Oh, Lightning!", Sally squealed. "It's beautiful!"

"Yeah, but compared to you, that is the ugliest thing I've ever seen.", said Lightning. Sally smiled with tears in her eyes.

"That sticker has been my lucky sticker in the past..because it covered a scar. I called it lucky because...why the heck would I want the paparazzi seeing that!" Everyone laughed.

"But now, I can really call it lucky. It joined me with you, Sally."  
"WOOOOO! GIT-R-DONE!", Mater yelled to Lightning.  
"YOU GO, GIRL!", Flo yelled to Sally.  
"So with this ring..", Lightning continued. "Sally Carerra..will you marry me?"  
The town was quiet. All eyes were on Sally.  
Her smile didn't fade. It was still there and it got wider.

"I...", she started.

The tension was getting higher. Lightning looked into her eyes. Sally looked at Mater. Mater was smiling and nodding. She looked back at Lightning and took a deep breath in.

"Yes! I do!"


	6. Labor Day

**~Chapter 5~**  
"This place is so beautiful.", said Sally. She and Lightning were parked in front of the view in front of the Wheel Well Motel. They've been engaged for two months now. He couldn't stop kissing her. Sally's eyes got heavy and started to shut slowly.

"Come on, sleepyhead.", Lightning whispered.

"Where?", asked Sally. "I hope not far. The baby is getting heavy." Lightning smiled. Sally was really big now. Her doors were bulging out and her undercarriage almost touched the floor. They drove to the entrance of the Wheel Well Motel.

"I have a surprise for you!", Lightning said, playfully. Sally laughed. "What?", she asked.  
"You need to close your eyes, Sal!"  
Sally shut her eyes.  
A second barley passed.  
"Okay! Open them!"  
When Sally opened her eyes, she saw...the Wheel Well Motel.

"Lightning, I don't understand."  
"Welcome home!"  
"Huh?"  
"Sweetheart, we can't raise the baby in a little cone. It was a perfect size for us, but not for another. No matter how small."  
"You sold the motel we built together?"  
"Yeah! To us! It'll be great! We don't need the money. I have more than enough. I made it into a home! All the rooms are now different rooms in the house."  
"There's room for us all?"  
"Yeah, baby."  
Sally drove inside with Lightning. The place was outstanding.

"Since we know we're having a son, the baby's room is so decked out for a little boy!", said Lightning. "He'll love it." Sally smiled.

"I agree.", she said. "You did an amazing job." She kissed him.

"Want to know the best part?", asked Lightning in a seductive voice.

"What?", Sally asked. She also was talking in a seductive voice.

"Mater will need to call before he comes all the way here!", said Lightning. Sally laughed really hard.

"Oh..oh..ow...", she groaned.

"What? What's the matter?", Lightning worried. Sally moved her tire to her undercarriage and held it there.

"I need to call Doc!", Lightning panicked.

"No..f-false alarm.", said Sally. Sally drove to the baby's room to take a peak.

"I cant wait for you to see it!", Lightning yelled, from a few rooms down. When Sally reached the baby's room, she went to press the button to open the garage door. Before she even touched it, the door flew opened.

"RAWRRRRRRR!", yelled Mater, who was hiding in the motel the whole time. Sally jumped and let out a high pitch scream.

"I knew you'd like it!", yelled out Lightning, who thought her screams were because of excitement.

"Hey, Mrs. Sally!", Mater yelled in her face. Lightning heard him and rolled his eyes. He drove around to the baby's room. When he got there, Sally was clenching her undercarriage with both of her front tires and her eyes were shut tight. Her teeth couldn't clench any harder than they were.

"I-I-I didn'do it!", Mater stuttered. Lightning was furious.

"WHAT DIDN'T YOU DO, MATER?", screamed Lightning.

"AHHHHH TAKE ME TO DOC'S NOW!", yelled Sally.

"I gotcha, Mrs. Sally!", Mater said. He immediately hooked Sally on his tow hook and drove as fast as he could to Doc's.  
Moments later they arrived at Doc's.  
"She's done!", yelled Mater to Doc.  
"Done?", asked Doc.  
"Mmhm!"  
"It's only been 2 months!"  
"Uh...Doc? It only takes 2 months for a car to-", said Sally.  
"Oh, I thought we were acting out that scene from the movie again.."  
Lightning rolled his eyes. Mater smiled and put Sally on the lift. Doc went to hit the switch to lift the lift.

"Wait, Doc.", said Lightning. He drove to Sally. She looked at him, deeply. Lightning put his tire on Sally's and said, "Sally..I...I want you to..look, I wish-"  
"Is we all actin' out the movie again? I want ta do the tractor tippin' again!"  
Doc snarled, "Lightning, get it over with."  
"Sally I...I want you to...know that I love you..so much...look, I wish...that I could someday spend the rest of my life with you. I wanted to tell you all of that before, but I couldn't get it out that night. I'm just glad that all of that is true now."  
Doc looked down at his hood and frowned and he could feel his engine sink. Mater was sniffled and said, "T-That was bootiful..."  
Doc shot his eyes back up and glared at Lightning.

"That's it! Get out!", he yelled. Lightning looked at Doc with no expression and just left. Mater followed close behind. When the door shut behind them, Lightning knew it was safe to talk.

"Mater, I don't trust Sally in there alone with Doc. He might put thoughts in her mind that don't belong there. Ones that aren't true."  
"Aww, don't be too scared buddy, it ain't real."  
"What are you ta-? Mater, stop! We aren't doing the movie or the ghost light short! I'm serious."  
"Well, why wouldn't you trust him?"  
"Because...I just don't!"  
"Baby!"  
"I'm not a ba-HEY!"  
"I wanna do the tractor tippin' scene again!"  
"URGH! FORGET IT!"  
Lightning turned around so his rear bumper faced Mater. Mater stared at his friend. He felt really sorry for him. He drove next to him, leaned into him, and asked, "Lightnin'...is you under lots-o-pressure?"

Lightning looked up at Mater and gave him a look.

"Talk ta me.", said Mater. Lightning inhaled deeply and said, "I don't think that I'm going to be a good father."  
Nurse GTO was listening to the conversation. She went to her HoodBook page and typed in a new status. She wrote:_Lightning McQueen doesn't think he's going to be a good father!_  
"Why do you think that, Lightnin'?", asked Mater.

"Because..", Lightning said. "I..just think that."  
"Wells, thoughts ain't actions. Thoughts mean nothin' unless you do that thought. If you act on a thought, it becomes an action. Right now, Lightnin', that's just a thought."  
Mater saying that made Lightning's eyes widen. He paused for a moment.

"Wow.", said Lightning. "Did you just say that?"  
"Say what?"  
"Never mind."  
"NURSE GTO!", Doc called out from the examination room. She sped to the room.

"W-What do you think happened?", asked Lightning.

"I don't know.", said Mater.

The examination room's doors opened opened.

Lightning and Mater's eyes quickly jumped to the door. Lightning moved his eyes so fast, that it hurt. Then he smiled and said, "Mater...go outside and get the townsfolk." Mater sped out of Doc's and went to get everyone. Lightning continued staring at the door until someone told him to go in. Nurse GTO drove out of it, shut the doors, and went back to her computer. Lightning was confused. Nurse GTO went to her HoodBook page only to find that there were hundreds of comments on her status about Lightning. She responded to all of them saying: _Lightning's a father!_  
Nurse GTO drove back into the examination room. The doors were shut again. The sound of engines got louder. Everyone in town was now in Doc's waiting room.

"Wells, I brought everybody!", said Mater. He saw that the doors were shut.

"What happened?", asked Flo.

"Yeah?", said Mater. Ramone's paint job was half done.

"I stopped my painting for this, man? I thought you said the baby was here, Mater!", said Ramone.

"They opened the doors, Nurse GTO came out, went on her computer, and went back in.", Lightning answered. Everyone groaned.

"Well-a we're not leaving!", Luigi stated. "We-a wanted to see a baby, and we-a gonna see a baby!"

The doors opened once again. Nurse GTO smiled.

"Lightning?", she asked. Lightning and everyone else smiled wide. Nurse GTO raised her tire and pulled it into herself a few times in a "come here" motion.

The sight of the examination room from the waiting room was beautiful at that moment. Inside of the room was a blinding white light in Lightning's eyes. Almost like staring into heaven.

Lightning started to shiver and with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes, he drove into the light.


	7. Racing is for Boys

**~Chapter 6~**  
When Lightning entered the examination room with Nurse GTO, Nurse GTO shut the doors. Lightning looked around the room. From Lightning's point of view, it was so bright that it was blinding. He squinted his eyes. He didn't see anything but a bright white light. A baby's cry was heard in the distance.

"Lightning..", whispered Sally's voice. Lightning smiled. He couldn't see her.

"Are you ready to see your new daughter, Lightning?", asked Nurse GTO. Lightning looked to his right. He was able to see her. She was smiling. Lightning's smiles faded a tiny bit.

"D-Daughter?", asked Lightning. "I thought the baby was a...a boy!" Nurse GTO shook her head.

"Miracles happen.", was all she could say.

"_All of that racing I was going to teach him.._", thought Lightning. "_Wasted._" He drove forward and Sally's image faded in slowly. The bright light was now seen as if it was a really dense fog and you have to be close to an object to see it.

"Sally, it's a girl..", said Lightning. Sally smiled.

"So?", asked Sally.  
"We were told it was a boy by Doc."  
"It was just a mistake."  
"A big one."  
"What's the big deal?"  
"I wanted to teach him racing and all that jazz."  
"Oh, Lightning." Sally rolled her eyes, playfully.  
"What about the room I made for him?", asked Lightning.  
"It's fine, Lightning."  
The room started to spin.

"It's...", started Lightning. He started to breath heavily.

"It's not fine.." Lightning closed his eyes. "I'm a father.."  
Sally's smile faded.

"I freaked out while I was having the baby too, Lightning. Me? A mom? But then-"  
"Hey daddy!", said Doc's voice from the foggy unknown. He drove closer to Lightning and Sally and Lightning was able to see him now. There was a very tiny car painted white with its eyes shut on Doc's hood. It was sleeping. It's tiny little hood bobbed up and down.

"I-Is that?", asked Lightning.

"Yeah.", said Doc. Lightning smiled. The dense fog he saw disappeared. Everything was clear. He didn't take his eyes off of his daughter.

"But then..what, Sally? You didn't finish your sentence.", said Lightning, still not taking his eyes away from his daughter.

"But then, I saw her.", said Sally. Lightning paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah..", he said. "Th-Then I saw her." Sally smiled. Doc drove close to Lightning slowly.

"Bow your hood.", said Doc. Lightning did what he said. Doc tilted his hood and the baby girl rolled off of his hood and then stopped on Lightning's. Lightning stared at the baby that was on his hood. Lightning got all choked up.

"She's br-breathing.", said Lightning. He was able to feel her breath on his eyes and the bobbing of her hood.

"Baby cars always start out in their neutral setting until they learn how to switch out of it on their own and drive by themselves. She can't move unless you move her. She has a coat of white on right now, but soon her natural paint job will fade in.", said Doc. "Oh, and Lightning?"

"Yeah?", he answered.  
"Name?"  
"A n-name?"  
Lightning looked at Sally.  
"Jenny.", said Sally.  
Lightning smiled. "How about, Jane?", asked Lightning. "Jane Taylor McQueen?"  
"Jane? Jane Taylor?", asked Sally.  
"Jane Taylor..she was the one who wrote Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I thought it would be nice to name her after her because..she...she's as beautiful as a star."  
Tears fell out of Sally's eyes. "That's a great name."  
"Jane Taylor Carrera McQueen.", Doc repeated. "Nice choice."  
"Lightning, look!", Sally called out. Lightning looked in front of him at Jane. Her eyes were closed but her eye lids moved. She cooed. Jane's eyes slowly started to open. When they were fully open, she looked right into Lightning's eyes and blinked a few times. Her mouth started to curve.

"She...she's smiling!", said Lightning. "Smiling! But..."  
"But what?", asked Sally.  
"Her eyes..", said Lightning.  
"What about them?"  
"They're two different colors."  
Sally and Doc looked and saw Jane's right eye was blue and her left eye was green.

"Sh-She's gorgeous!", Sally said.  
"Hm...interesting...", said Doc.  
Jane giggled and started bouncing her shocks up and down. She didn't bounce up into the air, she was just...bouncing. Lightning giggled.

"S-So cute.", said Lightning. He looked at Sally. Sally was able to feel his stare. She leaned into him and smiled.

"I l-love you.", said Lightning. A tear fell out of his eye. Jane saw it and licked it. She made an "icky" face. Lightning laughed again.

"I love you too, so much, Stickers.", said Sally while giggling at Jane.

"Can we take her home?", asked Sally. "Yes.", said Doc. Sally bowed her hood to Lightning and Lightning tilted his hood to let Jane go to Sally. When Jane was on her hood, Sally quickly drove out of the examination room to show everyone. The doors swung closed when she left. Lightning was then alone in the examination room with Doc. They heard cheering and "Aww"s from outside the doors.

"Doc, I...you said we were having a boy..", said Lightning. Doc glared at Lightning.

"Good luck, daddy.", was all Doc said and Doc drove away from Lightning to the other side of the room.

"Y-You knew, _didn't_ you?", asked Lightning. "You knew she was going to be a girl _didn't you_?"  
Doc turned around again to Lightning and smiled.

"Good luck, daddy.", he repeated.


	8. Vroom

**~Chapter 7~**  
It was a bright sunny day. Sally was at work at the Cozy Cone Motel and Lightning was inside of the Wheel Well with Jane on his hood. He rocked his body side to side which was rocking Jane. She was smiling and cooing.

"Who's beautiful?", asked Lightning. "You are!" Jane giggled and bounced. Lightning smiled.  
"Chick Hicks arrived for today's race for the qualification of the Piston Cup!", said a static filled female radio voice. It was Kori Turbowitz, the announcer for Racing Sports Network. Chick's voice came into the sound waves, "Yes! So sad that Lightning couldn't be here. You know, taking care of his daughter and all." Lightning rolled his eyes.

"What a moron..", said Lightning.  
"Chick?", asked Kori. "I understand that you are expecting a little someone soon?"  
Lightning eyes widened.

"What!", thought Lightning.  
"Me? Expecting? No! My girlfriend is though.", said Chick.  
Kori did one of those fake talk show host laughs.  
"Yes, yes. I know. I'm funny."  
Lightning rolled his eyes again. Jane saw this and she tried repeating it. She looked up then down really fast. Lightning smiled.

"Cutie.", he said. Chick continued talking about his racing techniques. One line that he said stuck to Lightning.

"Well, I guess that my greatest technique would be Lightning not racing this year. Think about it, The King, retired; Lightning, a baby; Me, being behind Lightning and The King and they're gone? I'm winning this bad boy!"  
Lightning shut his eyes tight and clenched his teeth.

_"I NEED to race. I HAVE to."_, thought Lightning. Then he opened his eyes and stared at Jane. She was repeating Lightning. Her eyes were shut tight and her gums were clenched as if she had teeth.

_"If I race, I will be equal to all of those race car parents. My parents. I can't take it."_ thought Lightning. He smiled.

"Well, a few laps at Willy's Butte won't hurt, right Jane?", he asked. Jane didn't answer. She was just smiling without a care in the world.

"I'll take that as a yes.", said Lightning. Lightning put Jane in a steel box that was the perfect size for a baby car. It had a soft blanket on the bottom and the top wasn't closed so the baby could breathe and see outside at all times. There was a chain attached to the box with a hook on the other end, and Lightning hooked that hook on his bumper.

"Come on, Jane", said Lightning. He drove with her down to Willy's Butte.  
When they arrived, Lightning unhooked the baby carriage and left on the side of the road.

"This stuff is really fun, Jane!", said Lightning. "You can watch if you want." Jane looked closely at Lightning. He drove back on the road and placed his tire in the dirt. He dragged his tire across the street and made a line in the dirt. Jane continued to observe. Lightning drove behind the line and stared at the road. He started his engine.  
VROOOOOOOM!  
Jane's eyes widened and she smiled really wide.  
Lightning slammed his gas petal and his back tires rolled for a few seconds before having his body fling forward. He bolted down the road. Sand flew into the air. Jane started bouncing. She watched her father speed in the dirt round and round. Lightning came up to the turn that was hard to do. He turned right really hard and his body swung around and made him go left. Jane gasped with a smile. Lightning came around again and again. He raced faster and faster.

_Hours passed._

Lightning came around the last corner and was so out of breath. He was breathing hard.

"How..was...that? Jane?", gasped Lightning. Jane giggled and bounced hard. Lightning smiled.

"Come on now..time to take you home." Lightning hooked the box on his bumper and started to drive back to the Wheel Well Motel.  
When the returned, Lightning drove Jane to her room and put her in her crib.

"I'm going to go take a car wash, Jane. I'll be out quick, okay?" Jane smiled. Lightning drove to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Jane listened to the noises around her. She heard the water flowing and crashing against Lightning's body. She heard this same noise coming from outside of her window. Jane looked to her left. The window had water droplets on it and the sky was dark. There was a loud bang that shook the floor. Jane started to shiver. A bright flash filled the room and disappeared in a second. The rain drops pelted the window harder. Jane screamed. Sally was just driving in from work. She was soaking wet. Sally turned her windshield wipers off. When they were off, she was able to hear Jane screaming. Sally gasped and sped to the baby's room.

"JANE?", Sally called out. When Jane saw her mother she put her front tires up. Sally drove over to Jane and tilted her hood so she can roll Jane on it.

"Hi sweetie, what's wrong?", she asked. Jane was tearing up and was shivering.  
**BOOOOOOM**  
Jane squealed and closed her eyes tight. She huddled her tires under her body.

"Awww, baby it's okay.", said Sally. "Shh..." Jane calmed down. Lightning rolled inside the baby's room.

"Sally!", Lightning called out.

"Lightning!", Sally replied. Lightning giggled.

"There's a storm outside." said Lightning. "You know what _that_ means?" Sally blushed.  
"Yes,_I know_."  
Sally winked.  
Jane tried to wink but she kept blinking both eyes.  
Lightning drove to Sally and kissed her. He held his lips on Sally's for a few seconds and slowly opened his mouth. Sally pulled away.

"Lightning! _Jane_ is on my hood!"

"She _doesn't_know!"  
Jane started making kissy noises. She giggled. Sally gave Lightning a look.

"You see? Now when Mater sees Jane doing that he's going to make fun of us!"  
Lightning chuckled. He noticed Jane doing something weird.

"Sally? What is Jane doing?", he asked. Sally stared at Jane. She had her eyes closed and was swaying. She had a little grin on her face. She opened her eyes and put on a_"game face"_, though she was smiling. She continued to sway but then she did something even stranger. She turned her tires to the right but leaned to the left.

"I think she's dancing!", said Lightning.

"You're such a good dancer!", Sally said. Jane pointed to her father. Lightning saw this.

"Me?", he asked. Sally tilted her hood so Jane went on Lightning's hood.

"What, Jane?", he asked. She pointed to Lightning again. After, she started to sway and turn her tires the opposite ways again. Lightning was so confused. He tilted his head.

"I don't get it.", he said.

"Hm.. maybe we should take all of this racing stuff down and put flowers around her. You know, make it look like a little girl's room.", said Sally, ignoring what Lightning said. Lightning thought about Sally's suggestion, then his eyes widened.

"Wait..Sally.", he started. "I know what Jane is doing! Jane...she's r-racing!"  
"What?"  
"Yeah! Look! LOOK!"  
Sally observed Jane. She was still swaying and turning her tires in the opposite direction of her leaning.

"LOOK! See! She's doing the 'right-to-go-left' thing! Look! SALLY! Look! LOOK!-"  
"I CAN SEE HER!"  
Sally sighed.

"Where did she learn _this_ from?", she asked.  
"Hm..well, I did let her watch me race today."  
"IN THE_RAIN_!"  
"No!"  
"Oh.."  
Jane was still swaying.  
Suddenly, a clicking noise was heard. It was coming from Jane. Every time the clicking noise was heard, Jane kind of jerked.  
"What's happening?", asked Lightning. Sally smiled.

"Lightning! Wait a minute! Put her on the ground!", said Sally. Lightning tilted his hood and let Jane roll off of it. The clicking became more and more frequent.

"I'm going to get Doc!", yelled Lightning.

"No!", yelled Sally. "Look!" Lightning stared at Jane. Sally watched with joy. The clicking noise was getting louder and her jerks were getting harder. Jane's eyes got wide. The clicking noise became louder. She smiled wide. The clicking noise finally got really loud until...

Vrr...Vrrrrrr...Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Patter...Patter...Patter...

VrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRR...

Patter...Patter...

Vr..Vr...Vr...

Vrrrrrrrr...Va..Va...VaVaVaVa

Vr...Vr...Vr...VROOOOOOOOM!

Jane's ignition started. "", said her engine.

"She started up!", yelled Lightning. "MY BABY TURNED ON HER ENGINE!" Sally smiled with tears in her eyes.  
Lightning sped outside. The rain pelted him. He went to the edge of the view outside of the Wheel Well Motel and screamed at the top of his being, "MY DAUGHTER STARTED HER ENGINE!"  
Sally laughed when she heard her fiance yelling outside.  
A big red tow truck was passing by Lightning. It was Bubba.

"HEY! HEY BUBBA!", called Lightning. Bubba turned around and gave Lightning a puzzled look.

"What do you want? Another punch?", he asked.  
"YEAH! You! Guess what!"  
"What?", asked Bubba.  
Lightning sped up to him and put his front tires on the Bubba's hood.  
"MY DAUGHTER IS GOING TO DRIVE!"  
Bubba backed up to get Lightning's tires off of him and pushed Lightning back really hard.

"I don't care about YOU or your DAUGHTER!", he yelled. "I'm just trying to get HOME. It's RAINING." He sped away from Lightning as fast as he could but back in the direction where he was coming from.

_"If he was just leaving Radiator Springs to go home..why is he going back?"_, thought Lightning.  
But Lightning just stayed there parked with a smile on his face.

"My baby turned on her engine.", he whispered to himself.  
That day, he didn't mind the rain. He actually started to _love_ it.  
"THAT'S HIM!", yelled a male car's voice. It sounded like Bubba. Lightning turned around and saw Sheriff next to Bubba.

"Ugh...Lightnin'.", said Sheriff. "Sorry that I gotta do this to ya again.." Bubba just stood there parked with a glare on his face. The glare was staring at Lightning.

"Do what?", asked Lightning.  
"You're under arrest.."  
"W-What! No! NO!"  
"Yeah..sorry..."  
"Want me 'ta take him? Mater is down in Radiator Springs and...oh so busy. I'll take him for ya!", said Bubba. "After all, he did assault me."  
"WHAT!", yelled Lightning. "SALLY! SALLY!"  
Sally was already in the kitchen making Dinner. She couldn't hear him. Jane heard Lightning though. The window was next to her crib. Jane looked to her left and saw her father. She gasped, wide eyed.  
Bubba hooked Lightning hard.  
"OWW! SALLY!"  
"Come on, Lightning.", Bubba snarled. He laughed evilly.  
"NO! PLEASE! MY BABY IS GOING TO LEARN TO DRIVE!"  
Bubba started to drive away with Lightning on his hook. Lightning was grabbing at the ground with made dark skid marks. Sheriff frowned.

"Sorry, Lightning.", said Sheriff. "I have to."  
"No! PLEASE!"


	9. An Act of Kindness

**~Chapter 8~**  
It was really late at night. It was around one in the morning and Lightning was stuck in the impound once again. All he could do was basically think to himself with his eyes shut.  
"_Why is it that every single time something good happens to me, it's ruined? Why is it that every single time I want to be happy, I can't be? Why is it that every single time that I am happy, it needs to be ripped away from my tires? Why is it that when you do something right, there's always that one car that wants to screw up it up? Why is it that I have two cars that want to screw up my life? Why is it that I can't spend one night with Sally without having Mater show me something new on his body? Why is it that when I want to get married, it needs to be paused? Why is it that I have to sit in this impound doing nothing? Why is it that the only thing I can do in here is stare up at the moon and the stars and think to myself? Why do cars do this to other cars? Why do other cars want to see you go nuts? Why do I have to be me? Why can't I be happy for Jane? Why can't I see her until tomorrow morning? Why am I awake at this hour? Why is it that I always end up in the impound for something I didn't mean to do? Why do I have to be me?_" Lightning sighed.  
"Hey.", said a male old car's voice. Lightning opened his eyes and blinked a few times to knock the stray tears away. He turned around. Lightning saw Doc on the other side of the impound fence.

"You here to gloat?", asked Lightning.

"Now, now, Lightning. Are we going to repeat movie quotes _again_?" , said Doc. Lightning heavily exhaled.

"Alright.", started Doc. "What's it this time?"  
"Bubba got me in here."  
"What did you do?"  
"I _didn't_ do anything."  
"Lightning?"  
"What?"  
"I believe you."  
"Huh?"  
"I knew you couldn't drive, but I didn't know you couldn't..speak English...?"  
"Enough with the movie, Doc.."  
"Well, what I meant was, I'm sorry."  
"Hm..why so sudden?"  
"Let me talk to you for a minute."  
Lightning just stared at Doc with emotionless eyes and said, "Doc, the last time you talked to me, you ripped my heart out of my soul and treated it like _road kill_. Now, _why_on Earth should I believe you? You stupid **loner**!"  
"Well, I guess I deserved that. Well, now it's my turn. Lightning, the last time you rejected a conversation with me, you missed out on meeting the Fabulous Hudson Hornet. You **self-absorbed moron**! There. Now that we got the insults out of our tailpipes, can we talk?"  
Lightning was silent.  
"Well, I'm going to take that as a yes whether you like it or not. Besides, you can't do anything about it. Last time I checked, Lightning, you are stuck in a little fenced area with _no one_ to talk to. Let me ask you something. Who is the **loner** _now_?"  
Lightning turned his rear bumper to Doc.  
"Lightning, I tested you and you still don't get it. You will listen to what anyone says and believe it, won't you? Lightning, you made the same mistake I made. In 1954, my big wreck, _I was wrecked_. I go back to expect that big welcome I told you about, they tell me to leave. They told me that they found someone else and I _wasn't a good racer_ anymore. So what did I do? I ran away from racing. Now _why_is that, Lightning?"  
Lightning didn't answer him. He just stayed there parked facing away from him. Doc looked down and sighed.

"I'll tell you why, Lightning." Doc paused for a moment. Silent tears started to roll out of Doc's eyes. In a choked up voice he said, "B-Because I _believed_ them!"  
Lightning's eyes widened. Doc didn't see this because Lightning was still turned around.  
"I believed that my racing was **no good**. That I was**thrown out**. I _BELIEVED_ I WAS **GARBAGE**!"  
Lightning flinched. Doc's voice started to change that moment. He didn't even sound like the Doc everybody knows. He sounded..._like he was losing it._  
"YOU ARE BECOMING **ME**, LIGHTNING! _YOU ARE GOING TO BE A BAD FATHER!_REMEMBER THAT? HUH? DO YOU? I SAID THAT TO _YOU_! YOU _BELIEVED_ IT!"  
Something changed in Lightning too. Lightning quickly faced Doc and thrashed his face against the fence. He put his tires up on it. Doc backed away a little. "I _DIDN'T_ BELIEVE IT!", yelled Lightning. "I'M A **GREAT** FATHER! A **BETTER** ONE THAN **MY **FATHER! I'M MORE OF A **FATHER** THAN HE _EVER_ WAS!"  
"You _didn't_ believe it?", asked Doc, calmly. "Yes, you did. You believed it because of your own father. You believed it, because I said it too. You look up to me..you._.looked up to your father_."  
Lightning looked down at his hood.

"Wh-Wh-Where's my d-daddy, Doc?", whispered Lightning. He was choked up as well. Lightning started to cry very hard. He was screeching while crying. Doc couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Lightning crying that hard. No one, not even Sally, has _ever_ seen him cry like that. "I want my daddy!"  
"Lightning!", called an angel's voice. "Are you okay, sweetheart? Baby?" Lightning calmed down to simple sobbing and he watched Sally drive to the fence.

"I want to see my dad..", said Lightning.

"Where is he?", asked Sally.  
Lightning looked up at the night sky.

"He's r-right_there_..", replied Lightning. He was pointing a faint star in the sky.

"See? It's faint because he doesn't even want to show himself to the world..", Lightning continued. Sally teared up. Doc's mouth dropped slightly and said, "Lightning, I didn't know your dad was _dea_-"  
"Please don't say it..", Lightning interrupted.  
Sally closed her eyes and tears rolled out from under her eyelids. She puckered her lips and put them against the fence. Lightning saw this. The corner of his mouth curved up and he kissed her through the fence. Doc smiled.

"I miss you.", said Lightning.

"I miss you too.", said Sally.

"So, how is Jane?", asked Doc.  
"She just learned how to turn on her engine. We're waiting for her to drive now!", said Sally.  
"Aww...what color is she?", asked Doc.  
"White still. You said they fade to their color later.", said Lightning.  
"Yes _but_, if they don't by the time they turn on their engine, they have a natural white paint job. _Actually_, Sally being blue and you being red, Jane should have been a _purple like_ color.", said Doc.  
"Oh..", said Sally.  
"What's the matter?", asked Doc.  
"I was...hoping to see a color..that wasn't so _plain_, you know?", said Sally.  
"Yeah.", said Lightning. "I agree.."  
"Well, that's nature for you.", said Doc.

"Where's Jane now?, asked Lightning.  
"Home alone, but asleep.", said Sally.

"I think we should _all_ be getting to sleep right about now.", said Doc.

"Yeah.", said Lightning and Sally.

"Goodnight, Sally.", said Lightning. "I _love_ you." He smiled. Sally smiled and replied, "I love you too, goodnight."  
Lightning and Sally shared another kiss through the fence and Sally started to drive home. Doc looked at Lightning and whispered, "We'll find a way to get you outta here, okay?" Lightning nodded.

"Oh, and Lightning?", said Doc. "You're a _great _father." Lightning smiled. "Thanks, Doc."  
"Get some sleep.", was the last thing Doc said before he drove away too. Lightning backed away from the fence and closed his eyes.

"_Tonight._", thought Lightning. "_I will have a good sleep_."  
As Sally drove home, her headlights started to go out. She was already away from Radiator Springs so she couldn't yell for help. It was really dark. The only light came from the moon and the stars. Suddenly there was a light coming from up the street.

"Excuse me!", called out Sally. The unknown automobile drove over to Sally. Sally was able to see a tow hook, _slightly_.

"Excuse me, can you tow me home?", asked Sally. "_Please_?" Sally got a good look at the Tow Truck. He was **big**, **red**, and his teeth were a bit screwed up. No, it _wasn't_ Mater in a costume. It was more like Mater got fat and turned into a _red giant_. It was _**Bubba**_, but Sally didn't know what he looked like at such a dark hour. She only _heard_ about him.

"Why, sure little lady.", said Bubba. "Sure." Sally turned around for him. Bubba smiled and stared a bit too long at her. He noticed the tattoo she had. He noticed how _attracted _he was to her. Bubba laughed and turned around. He hooked her and started to drive up towards the Wheel Well.

"Hey, thanks.", said Sally. "I guess I was lucky back there. You know, you saving me."

"Yeah.", said Bubba. "I was _lucky_ too."

"How so?", asked Sally.

"Oh, just because.", Bubba answered.  
Bubba arrived at the Wheel Well..but he _didn't_ stop.

"Um..sir? You passed my home.", said Sally. Bubba didn't say a word. He just kept driving away with Sally.

"Sir?", she asked. "Sir!"

Bubba grinned and started to speed away with Sally.


	10. Miss Hostage

**~Chapter 9~**  
Lightning was asleep at the impound and the sounds of voices surrounded him. Lightning yawned and slowly opened his eyes. When he looked over to his right, his engine sank. All of the townsfolk were crowded around Sally's Cozy Cone Motel.  
"Maybe she's cleaning one of the rooms?", said Ramone.  
"No! No! I'm the first to see her when she drives to work in the morning. She-a passes my store-a first!", Luigi explained.  
"I didn't see my girl arrive to work either! She didn't even have breakfast!", exclaimed Flo.  
"Maybe she is with Big Al!", yelled Lizzie.  
"No, don't think so, Lizzie.", said Doc.  
_Meanwhile_, Mater went to the Wheel Well as soon as he saw Sally wasn't at work. Mater knocked on the front garage door.

"Miss. Sally? Erm..I mean almost Mrs. Sally! You _there_?" he called out. Mater heard a faint screaming coming from inside. He put his side up to the door. He listened with his right passenger side window. It was Jane crying.

"Jane! It's _uncle_ Mater!" said Mater. Jane stopped crying. She was just whimpering. "I'm comin' in!"

Mater back up as far as he could without going over the edge of the cliff and he slammed himself forward into the door. The door busted open. He looked around. The place was empty.

"Sally!", he yelled. Mater drove to Jane's room. Jane was on the floor shivering. Her hood looked smashed in.

"Jane!" Mater drove to her.

"Are you okay?" Jane just looked up at Mater with tears in her eyes.

"Come on!" Mater hooked up Jane and lifted her on his truck instead of having her roll behind him. He kept his hook wrapped around Jane so she wouldn't fall out.

"Ya gonna see daddy, _okay_?" Mater drove as fast as he could back to Radiator Springs. He passed by everyone crowding the cozy cone. When he sped by, everyone turned around. The saw Mater speeding to the impound. They all saw Jane with him. Doc noticed that Jane looked like she's been hurt. Doc backed up and sped to Mater. The town all drove to the impound as well. When Mater arrived he explained everything as fast as he could to Lightning, "Lightning! Sally's missing! We all can't find her _anywhere_ so I went to go see if she was home at the Wheel Well but she_wasn't_ there and I heard screaming! I busted the door down and the house was empty! Jane was crying and I found her on the floor of her room with her hood _smashed_!"  
"_WHAT?_", yelled Lightning.

"_None_ of us saw her!", yelled Flo.

"Where's my baby!", yelled Lightning.

"She's here! Don't worry.", said Mater. He gently let Jane down from his tow hook. When Jane saw Lightning she smiled and started bouncing. Lightning just stared at Jane in horror. But then he paused because he noticed something on her. It was right where she has been hit. Doc was looking at the same thing as Lightning. Doc looked at Lightning.

"I _know_ you _see_ what I _see_.", said Doc.

"Yep.", said Lightning.  
Doc and Lightning both saw a strip of _green_ paint on Jane right where she got hit.

"Chick.", said Doc.

"_No_.", said Lightning. Everyone in town gave Lightning a confused look.

"Not Chick?", asked Doc.

"I know..I know..", said Lightning. "It's weird for me to say that. But I _know_ Chick. He hates everything. He even hates kids. He will hurt everything, but he would _never_ hurt a kid himself."

"Man, who else is green that hates you enough to hurt Jane! Open your eyes, dude! It's Chick!", yelled Ramone. "No! It isn't.", replied Lightning. "It was_his son_."  
"_Son?_", asked Flo.  
"Since when did he have _a son_?", asked Mater.  
"I heard it on the news before. His girlfriend was expecting but I was listening to Mater's broken radio through the fence earlier and the news said that his baby has _already_ been born and he didn't want the media to know about it yet. It's a boy.", Lightning explained. He clenched his teeth and kicked the fence with his tire hard.

"He must have broken into the Wheel Well with his son!", yelled Lightning. "He made his son hurt Jane and while his son was doing that, Chick..." Lightning stopped. Anger boiled up inside of him.

"Chick took Sally..", said Lightning.  
Mater gasped.

"Oh no!", yelled Mater. Lightning sighed deeply and said, "I know..I'm so mad...I..I-"  
"_No! No! No!_", Mater interrupted. "You're telling me that I _bashed_ through the door of the Wheel Well when it was _already _unlocked!"  
Everyone glared at Mater.  
"This isn't the time to joke!", Sheriff scolded. "We need to get Sally back from Chick."

"Who knows what he could be doing with her..", growled Lightning. You could hear the anger in his voice. The white area of Lightning's eyes started to turn light pink.

"Buddy, you don't look so good.", said Mater.

"Don't worry I'll get-", said Sheriff.

"No.", Doc interrupted. "Let Lightning go." Doc pressed the switch to open the gate with his tire. Mater drove next to Lightning and unlocked his boot. Lightning moved his tire around a little because it's been in the boot for a while. Lightning drove out of the impound, kissed Jane, and took off down the road. The townsfolk couldn't believe how fast he could go when Sally was taken from him or Jane was hurt. Since both of those things happened, you might say,_"Gee, if Lightning McQueen was in the race for the Piston Cup right now, there would be no contest."_  
The wind in Lightning's face was like a hurricane. He dashed through the other drivers on the street. Not one stop.  
_Meanwhile_, Sally just awakened from being passed out. She looked around and quickly remembered what happened. She was in a nice home. Everything was clean, except for the car in it with her. Sally took a deep breath in. An _amazing_ aroma filled the air. She decided to follow the scent. When Sally tried to drive forward, something didn't feel right. She couldn't drive forward or backward. She couldn't move from the spot at all. She was just stuck on Bubba's mattress with an _extremely_ rusty boot on.

"Help!", she yelled. "HELP!"  
The door of the bedroom flung open. Bubba was at the door with a tray hooked on his door. On the tray were two eggs, two pieces of bacon, two slices of toast with butter on them, and a little glass of orange juice. Sally's mouth hung open.

"Good morning, _beautiful_. Had a _nice_ night?", asked Bubba, sarcastically. He laughed.

"W-What did you do to me!", asked Sally, frantically. "Where's my b-baby!"  
"That's none of your business and who _cares_?"  
Sally's engine sank. She cringed at the thoughts of Bubba having control over her all night and not knowing what he's done.

"It is my business and I CARE! I want my baby! Give her to me!"  
Bubba thought for a moment. He wasn't really thinking. He was just playing with her emotions.

"Nope!", he said.  
Tears formed in Sally's eyes and she said, "Look! I don't care what you did to _me_! I just want my baby!"  
"Well, I didn't do nothin' to you. Hopefully, that calms ya down a bit."  
Sally did feel a bit calmer.

".._and_ what about my baby?"  
"Honestly, I _don't_ have her. I want _nothing_ to do with her. Just _you_. Now here. Eat your breakfast." Bubba put the tray on the bed with her. Sally looked down at the food and slapped it away with the tire with the rusty boot on it. When she hit the tray, Sally noticed a piece of the boot fell off.

"Oh! Now look at this mess! I made it all for you! Now I need to make it again.", said Bubba, _sarcastically_. He drove back out of the room and back into the kitchen. Knowing that Sally wouldn't eat it, he had another meal ready for her. All the meals weren't finished though. He added the _secret ingredient_ last.  
_**Poison**_.  
Bubba started setting everything up again.  
Sally was in the bedroom still. She didn't know Bubba had her meals all done for her so she thought she had a lot of time. She hopped to the edge of the bed and hopped off. She made sure she bashed the floor hard. Half of the boot was off.  
_Success_.  
She managed to get half of it off but was able to put it back together if anyone saw her.  
The door started to open. Sally gasped. When Bubba drove in, he saw Sally on the floor. The whole boot was still on her.

"So, Sally. What in tarnation are you doin' on the floor?", asked Bubba, evilly. Sally quickly answered, "I fell!"

Bubba rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, here.", said Bubba. He put the tray of food in front of her. It looked so good. She hasn't eaten all day and missed dinner last night. She was starving. She put her mouth up to the plate and went to take a bite. Bubba smiled. Sally saw that at the corner of her eye. In a mean tone of voice, Sally said, "I don't _trust_you."

"Well, Sally?", asked Bubba.  
"What?", asked Sally. She squinted at him.  
"I don't trust you NEITHER!"  
He stretched his tire out and slammed the tray of food in her face. Sally started to shake it off. While she was distracted, Bubba grabbed the tire with the rusty boot on it. He shook her axle and the boot fell right off in the two halves Sally broke it into.

"I KNEW IT!", he yelled. Sally wiped the food off of her face with her other tire. Bubba was really angry.

Bubba growled, "You know, Sally, I _don't_ appreciate it when cars _lie_ to me."

He drove forward into her. Sally was backed up against the wall. She couldn't back up anymore. She paused and remembered _Lightning_ doing the _same_ thing. She screamed. Bubba stuffed his tire in her mouth and through his teeth said, "Shut up, Sally."


	11. It was Him

**~Chapter 10~**  
After an hour of travel, Lightning finally reached where Chick lives. Lightning went up to the door and started to bang on it with his tire. A female car's crying noises were heard inside.

"DON'T YOU _EVER_ SAY THAT TO ME AGAIN!", yelled Chick from inside the house. "GET THE DOOR!"

Lightning just had a furious expression on his face. The garage door open up slowly. it was opened just enough so that a hood could fit through. A female car's hood poked through the crack.

"Wh-Who is it?", asked the female Toyota Corolla. Lightning grabbed the bottom of the garage door and pushed it up. The door flung open. Lightning looked at the female car. She had a light blue paint job and was small. She had tears in here eyes from Chick yelling at her. The Toyota backed up slowly.

"WHERE'S CHICK?", yelled Lightning. The Toyota started to shake.

"Don't hurt me! I'm just his _maid!_ He's b-back there...", she stuttered. She pointed with her tire. Lightning sped in the direction she was pointing in. Lightning arrived at Chick's baby's room. Chick was parked in front of his baby. Lightning parked himself at the door and watched instead of just barging in...**yet**. Chick was turned away from the door so he didn't see Lightning there. Chick lifted his tire and slammed it across his son's face. His son started crying loudly.

"NEVER HIT ANOTHER KID AGAIN!", yelled Chick. He slapped _Mike_ harder. Lightning revved.

"Leave him alone.", Lightning said, sternly. Chick turned around fast.

"McQueen?", said Chick, in shock. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Give me my fiancee back.", said Lightning.  
"What are you talking about, McQueen?"  
"You know what I'm talking about!"  
"No I don't!"  
Lightning sped into Chick hard.

"OW! What the heck was that for?", asked Chick.  
"I WANT SALLY BACK."  
Lightning punched Chick in the mouth. Chick put his tire up to his own mouth and grabbed it. He closed his eyes tight. Mike backed up into a corner and started screaming. The female Toyota came into the room.

"What's going on!", she asked.  
The both didn't answer her. Lightning grabbed Chick's axles with his tires.

"Why did you tell your kid to hit mine? Huh? WHY?", asked Lightning, frantically. He punched Chick again.

"I DIDN'T!", Chick yelled. Lightning punched his left eye. Chick flinched and couldn't hold his eye because Lightning was holding his axles down. He just squirmed around. Lightning looked over at Chick's son, Mike, and saw Jane's white paint on his green paint. When Lightning saw a part of his baby's body on Chick's baby he just got angrier.

"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH SALLY?", Lightning asked.

"I went to your home to steal your Piston Cups! I didn't know Mike hit your daughter! He did it himself! I didn't take Sally! I swear! She wasn't home when I went to your home!", answered Chick. Lightning backed away,"Wh-What? Wasn't home?"

"Yeah.", said Chick. "Lightning, I know I hate you, but I wouldn't go as far as hurting your child in any way or stealing your girl. Besides, my girlfriend is always here."  
"Oh yeah? Where's your girlfriend now?"  
Chick pointed to the Toyota Corolla. Lightning looked at her and said, "I thought you said you were the maid."

"Well, I am.", she said.

"Why were you crying when I came in?", asked Lightning. The Toyota just looked down. Her mouth was dry. She peaked over at Chick.

"That's none of your business.", said Chick. "Jane doesn't have to tell you anything."

Lightning's eyes widened.

"_J-Jane?_", he whispered.

"Yeah?", said Chick. "Why are you whispering?"  
Lightning swallowed hard and mumbled, "That's my daughter's name.."  
Chick's usual annoyed expression turned into one filled with _compassion_.

"Oh..I'm sorry.", said Chick. "I should have watched Mike better.."

"I should be getting back to Radiator Springs anyway..", said Lightning. Jane drove to the door and opened it for him.

"Here you go, Mr. McQueen.", said Jane. Lightning just nodded and drove out of their home.

_**One hour later...**_

Lightning noticed the Radiator Springs' welcome sign and in the distance saw the 'RS' printed on the Radiator Cap rock formation. Lightning drove over to Flo's Café and parked in one of the bays. All of the cars in town were there. Lightning was parked between Mack and Mater. Everyone was silent. There wasn't even any music playing on the radio. Lightning observed some more. All of the cars were looking down at their food and nothing else, and barely blinked.

"Um..hello?", said Lightning. Mater looked up but no one else did. He gave Lightning a quick glance and turned away fast.

"Mater?", asked Lightning. Mater didn't answer. He just kept his eyes away from Lightning. He took a sip of oil. Lightning looked over at Flo who was parked with Mia and Tia waiting for a customer to call on them.

"Flo? Mia? Tia?", called Lightning. "No one came over to me yet." Flo, Mia, and Tia just stayed in their positions, looking down at their hoods, not answering anyone. Lightning giggled and said, "I get it! You're all playing the silent game. I'll play too then." Lightning stayed quiet for a few minutes. He looked around some more and noticed there wasn't really a big reaction from anyone. "Guys? Are you okay?"  
No answer.  
"Doc?"  
Doc didn't answer.  
Lightning rolled his eyes.

"Well...good news! Chick didn't take Sally!", he said. The townsfolk cringed at the word 'Sally'. Luigi, Ramone, Flo, Guido, Mia, Tia, Lizzie, Mack, Red, Sarge, and Fillmore backed out of their bays and drove to their stores in silence. Doc looked up at Lightning and drove over to him, slowly. Mater now knew it was okay to look at Lightning.

"What did I say?", asked Lightning. Doc cleared his throat.

"You said Sally..", said Doc.

"Well my goodness I didn't know everyone else would be that upset about her missing. I miss her like crazy too but I know we'll find her. I mean, how far could she have gone?", said Lightning.

"Purdy far..", Mater mumbled.

"Huh?", asked Lightning. Doc teared up and said, "Lightning.."

"Yes?", asked Lightning. Mater closed his eyes tight and tears ran from his eyes. He turned away. Lightning started to get nervous.

"What's going on..?", he asked.

"Lightning..", repeated Doc. Doc sniffled. "It's about S-Sally.."

"Is she..?", asked Lightning.  
"No..."  
"Oh thank the manufacturer.."  
"We _think_ it's a no...but we know who took her and that's why we're all scared.."  
"Who?"  
"Well Sheriff looked at his records...he murders cars."  
"WHO?"  
"Bubba."  
Mater gulped. Lightning started to shake.

"I'll kill him!", he yelled. Lightning sped out of Flo's and down toward Tailfin Pass. The townsfolk just stared in shock..and hope.


	12. Baby's First Treads

**~Chapter 11~**  
Bubba was inside his home with Sally. She was chained to his bed and blindfolded. Sally struggled around but she didn't get anywhere. After a while of squirming around, she finally just gave up.  
"Look, Bubba, you don't have to be this way..", she said.  
Bubba drove close to her. His lips were just inches away from hers.  
"What way is that?", asked Bubba, in a gross seductive voice. With every vowel in his sentence, Sally felt his _breath _on her lips. She pulled her lips in for a second then let them loose.  
"Mean..", Sally answered. "Wh-Why are you doing this to me? What made you do it? Why are you always so angry? What makes you hurt other cars?"  
Bubba swallowed hard and opened his eyes wider.

**Twenty years earlier...**

_"Hmmprh! Get off me!", yelled a little red chubby tow truck. A bigger yellow truck was on top of him._

_"Nope!", he yelled._

_"Why are you like this!", yelled the little tow truck.  
_

Bubba shook himself out of it. "None of your business!", yelled Bubba.  
Sally noticed Bubba zoned out for that moment. She thought for a moment, "I'm a lawyer..I can help you."  
Bubba glared at Sally,"I hate lawyers more than mean yellow trucks." Sally gave Bubba a confused look. He thought back again.

_"No, your honor, I didn't hit Bubba.", said a now adult yellow truck._

_"Yes you did!", yelled a now mature Bubba._

_"Can you prove it?", asked the yellow truck's lawyer. Bubba just collapsed. He looked up at the judge. "No..I can't."_

"_Alright, Sam, you're free to go.", said the judge. The judge honked his tire and court was dismissed._

Bubba talked through his clenched teeth, "Because of cars like you, Sally, I was beat up every single day of my life until I dropped out of high school. I couldn't even take my life being bullied by that...that Sam! I needed to get away! When I did, I was free. I made a vow to myself that I would get stronger and bigger so that I can once day beat him up. Show him how it feels..I haven't seen him yet, however."  
Sally had sorry eyes under her blindfold.  
"That's doesn't mean beat up on another car because you can't find Sam."

Bubba rolled his eyes.  
"I HATE LAWYERS!", Bubba hooked Sally and drove out of his home, "THIS IS WHAT ALL OF YOU LAWYERS DESERVE! ALL OF YOU!"  
Bubba turned around in front of a cliff and started to back up. The blindfold was loose. Sally started to shake herself back and fourth to see what was going on. The blindfold fell down and a vast canyon was out in front of her with a long way down. Sally's eyes widened and she started kicking her front tires forward and into the ground trying to stop Bubba from backing up and making her fall over the edge.  
"STOP PLEASE!", screamed Sally.  
Lightning was just arriving at Bubba's house when he heard Sally's oil curdling screams.  
"SALLY!", screamed Lightning.  
He sped faster and soon, the image of his angel hanging from her death was seen.  
"LIGHTNING! HELP!", screamed Sally. Lightning drove to Bubba.

"LET HER GO!", he yelled. Bubba chuckled.

"What are you gonna do about it?", said Bubba. "Racecar."  
Lightning thought back to when Bubba said the same thing when he was trying to help Mater.  
Bubba continued, "Nothing. You're going to do nothing. Just like you always do when you threaten someone."  
"YOU CRAZY DIPSTICK!", Lightning screamed.

Bubba paused when he heard the word 'crazy'. He looked over at Lightning and gave a creepy...twisted smile, "Crazy? CRAZY? I'LL SHOW YOU CRAZY!"  
Bubba backed up all the way. Sally was no longer on the ground, but hanging from Bubba's hook over the long way down.  
"YOU WANT TO SEE CRAZY?", yelled Bubba.

"NO!", screamed Lightning. Sally was screaming at the top of her voice.

"PLEASE! No!", screamed Sally.  
Mater was driving to the scene. He was the whole time. Jane was on the back of him. When he arrived. Nobody saw him. Mater looked at the situation. He saw Sally hanging off the edge and Lightning in Bubba's face.  
Bubba started to scream again, "Want some more crazy? Huh? WANT SOME MORE?" Bubba started to swing Sally around, "I'm letting go! I'M LETTING GO ON THE COUNT OF THREE!"  
Lightning didn't know what to do. He stayed back with tears in his eyes. He realized he wasn't going to intimidate Bubba by yelling at him. Lightning was ashamed of himself. His sweetheart was about to die right in front of him and he couldn't do anything about it. Bubba chuckled and started counting.  
"ONE."  
Jane poked her head out of the side of Mater and saw her mother hanging. She gasped and her mouth hung open. Mater held his tire out to block Jane's view.  
"TWO."  
Sally screamed, "HELP! HELP!"  
Mater's eyes widened. He knew he needed to do something and he knew he needed to do something fast. Still, no one saw him. Lightning started shaking and was biting his lip. He wasn't sure if he should go and charge into Bubba or just watch in horror.  
_"Maybe he's bluffing.."_, Lightning thought. _"Yeah! That's it! He's only doing it to scare me...NO! LIGHTNING! YOU'RE STUPID! HE'S KILLED CARS IN THE PAST! WHAT MAKES SALLY DIFFERENT?"_  
"THREE!"  
"NO!", screamed Lightning. Bubba swung his hook up and then down really fast which whipped Sally right off of his hook. Sally screamed. Lightning watched in horror. He sped to the edge of the cliff.  
"SALLY!", yelled Lightning. Bubba turned and faced the cliff to watch his hard work. He chuckled again.  
"Don't worry! She won't feel it in a minute!", said Bubba. Sally was free falling. Her tires were spread out. She was looking down watching as the ground grew closer and closer. She closed her eyes tight. Mater sped to the edge of the cliff and bashed Bubba out of the way.  
"MATER!", exclaimed Lightning in surprise. Mater didn't answer. He flung his hook down the cliff. Bubba sped to the edge of the cliff and grabbed Mater's left axle.  
"DON'T YOU DARE!", screamed Bubba. Lightning wasn't paying attention he was just watching the hook get closer and closer to Sally. He held his breath and swallowed hard. Mater shoved Bubba off of him and then his body jerked. When it jerked, he planted his tires firmly on the ground.  
Sally opened her eyes. She was staring at the ground in front of her face.  
_"Am I..dead?"_, thought Sally.  
Mater's teeth were clenched and his eyes closed tight. Lightning was smiling.

"SALLY!", he yelled. He turned around to get Jane but she was missing. Lightning looked everywhere, but then looked up.  
"Jane..?", he said. Jane was standing on another level above Lightning, Mater, and Bubba.  
"You! YOU DROVE!", yelled Lightning in excitement. Jane had an angry face on. She drove over to a rock slightly bigger than her which seemed like a boulder to her. She started to push it. It slowly dragged across the ground.  
Mater started to crawl forward while reeling Sally in. He groaned.  
"Sh-She's heavy!", he yelled. Sally was almost to the top. Just two feet away. Lightning was parked right at the edge.  
"Sally!", he yelled. Mater finally got the last tug in and Sally was lifted to the top. Bubba slammed Mater out of the way and sped to Sally.  
"I'LL PUSH YOU OVER MYSELF!", yelled Bubba. He slammed Sally and Lightning quickly grabbed her tire.  
"I got you, baby.", said Lightning. He started to back up while holding her tire. Bubba was just about to knock them both off but a rock hit him hard on the head.  
"OUCH!", yelled Bubba. He closed his eyes and backed up. Little did he know, he was about to fall of the edge.  
Jane started to giggle. She smiled wide.  
Bubba backed all the way and fell off of the edge. Mater sped to the edge and flung his hook to Bubba. It latched on. Mater turned around to call Lightning over. When he did he saw Lightning and Sally with their lips entwined. They were holding there lips there for a while.  
"Uh..Lightning?", asked Mater. "Come here."  
Lightning pulled away from Sally and smiled at her. She was smiling back. Lightning drove over to Mater.  
"Hm?", he asked.

"I'll let you handle this one.", said Mater. He moved his hook line to Lightning. Lightning held the rope tight with his tire. Jane drove to the edge of the cliff and started giggling at Bubba. Sally went to the edge of the cliff and held her tire out in front of Jane so she wouldn't drive off the edge.  
Mater let out some rope so he was able to turn around to look down at Bubba. Everyone in town drove up to tail fin pass.  
"Sally!", some yelled.  
"You're alive!", said the others.  
They all saw Lightning holding Bubba over the edge.  
"Lightning!", yelled Bubba. "Please! Don't do this!"  
Lightning didn't answer. He loosened his grip some more to scare Bubba a little.  
Bubba screamed, "Please! Don't kill me!" Bubba stared up at everyone. Everyone was glaring at him.  
"No.", said Lightning. "I'm not."  
"What?", asked Mater.  
Lightning continued, "No, I'm not killing him."  
Lightning looked at Bubba.  
"Because I don't want to be like you. I don't want to kill. Killing doesn't bring me joy. It brings pain. Death...it hurts."  
Lightning saying that made Bubba think back some more again.

_A teenage version of Bubba was crying over a tombstone. It had his grandfather's name on it._

_"I'm sorry grandpa..", whispered young Bubba._

Bubba looked up at everyone. He had a sorry look in his eyes.  
"Mater..bring him up.", said Lightning, calmly.  
Mater started to lift him up. When he got to the top, Bubba looked at Lightning.

"I need to tell you something..", said Bubba. Bubba's eyes started to tear up. But then he stopped and sped to his house.  
Lightning just watched his taillights disappear in the distance with a confused look on his face.


	13. The Nightmare

**~Chapter 12~**  
Lightning, Sally, and Jane were home in the wheel well.  
"Do you have _all_ of the decorations?", Sally asked. She was talking on the phone. She continued to talk but kept pausing to hear the other car on the line.  
"Okay so we have the decorations, but what about the cake?...Oh! Lemon!...The flowers lining the town? Pink!...The caterer?...Her name is Flo!...Oh no...yeah...yeah I forgot the music...alright you can get her!...Yeah, me and Lightning do have a song but can she play it?...She can play anything we want?...Alright! Then our song is great! I'll tell her the day of the wedding. All the rest of the details I'll let you pick out on your own...okay...alright...thanks hun!"

Sally drove into the living room. She smiled at what she saw. Lightning was in front of the TV watching '_Dora The Ford Explorer_' with Jane.  
"Come on vamanos!", said Lightning, in a baby like voice. Jane started giggling and started dancing and bouncing with the music. When Lightning saw Jane doing that, Lightning danced and bounced with her. Sally backed out of the living room and went into her and Lightning's bedroom. She picked up a video camera and attached the suction cup to her rim. She slowly drove back to the living room quietly and started recording.

"Can you say 'verde'?", asked Dora, on the television. Jane struggled with her words.  
"Ba-Ba-er-er-dee", said Jane.

Lightning laughed and said in his baby voice, "Right! Verde!"  
Sally was holding her laughter back.  
"Who do we ask for help when we don't know which way to go?", asked Dora. Dora paused her words on the TV for a minute to let the child speak.

"The _GPS!_", said Lightning, in his baby voice.

"Right!", said Dora. "The GPS!"  
Sally couldn't hold it in anymore. She busted out laughing. Lightning turned around with a smile on his face. He laughed when he saw Sally with their video camera.  
"Sally! What are you doing?", he asked.  
"Exposing you for the soft man you are, Mr. McQueen!"  
She was still recording.  
"Give me the video camera!", Lightning playfully demanded. Sally started to act like a woman interviewing Lightning for the news.  
"So tell me, Lightning, how long is this journey you're taking with Jane going to be?", she asked.  
"It's been postponed until you turn off the camera!", said Lightning. Sally rolled her eyes, laughed, and said, "You'll never catch me!"  
"Oh yes I will!"  
"No you won't!"  
"Yes I will!"  
Sally started to speed around the house and Lightning followed close behind, not catching her on purpose. Jane was watching as they chased each other and she started laughing. Jane smiled and she revved her engine. Lightning and Sally paused and looked at Jane. She started to speed around the house. Lightning's jaw dropped.  
"Jane?", asked Sally. Jane stopped and looked at Sally. She drove over to her and parked next to her and Lightning. She revved her engine again and pointed at Lightning. Lightning smiled. He revved.  
Jane revved.  
Lightning revved.  
Jane revved.  
Sally felt out of place. She looked lost, so she gently revved her engine too. Lightning laughed and said, "Not quite, Sally."  
Sally smiled at stared at Lightning.

"I can't believe it..", she said.  
"What?", asked Lightning.  
"..you know.."  
"What? What's wrong?"  
"Nothing.."  
Lightning drove close to Sally and kissed her, "Something, Sally.."  
"It's just that..Jane.."  
"Yeah?"  
"She's growing up so fast."  
Lightning's engine sank when he realized she was right. He looked over at Jane. She was spinning in circles very fast.  
"Yeah..", said Lightning gloomily. "Well, tomorrow is our big day." He smiled. Sally giggled. She kissed him.  
"I..have a surprise for you but I'm afraid to show you.", said Sally.  
"No! Don't be afraid to show me anything.", Lighting replied.  
Lightning stuck his tongue out at Sally. Sally gave Lightning a playful disgusted look and pushed him away.  
"Fine!", said Lightning, playfully. "I need to put Jane to sleep anyway." He looked at Jane. "Come on, sweetie pie."  
Jane smiled and followed Lightning into her room. Lightning tilted his hood and Jane drove onto it. He lifted Jane and placed her on her little crib. Lightning pushed the bars up with his hood.

"Goodnight, Jane.", Lightning said, softly. Jane put her hood up against the bars and puckered her lips. Lightning looked at this. He could remember Sally doing the same thing to him when he was stuck in the impound. Lightning gently kissed Jane's lips.

"Jane, you do know that daddy loves you."  
Jane didn't answer. She couldn't. She didn't know how.  
"Night, darling."  
Lightning drove out of her room and then drove to Sally.

"Let's go to bed, baby.", said Sally. Lightning nodded. They drove to their bedroom. Lightning and Sally drove onto their mattress. Lightning looked at Sally. He nudged her gently.  
"Hey..", he said. Sally looked at him. "I love you, Sally Carerra McQueen."  
She gasped lightly and smiled. Sally never really thought of their names together that much. She loved the way it sounded.  
"Always..and forever?", she asked. Lightning leaned into her and closed his eyes. He whispered, "To infinity and beyond."  
Sally leaned back into Lightning and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, Lightning and Sally got to sleep. As Sally was dreaming about their wedding tomorrow and how perfect it will be, Lightning was dreaming about something else..

-

_Lightning was parked at the end of the street at the statue of Stanley in Radiator Springs. He looked around the town. It was all decorated for Lightning and Sally's wedding.  
"Wow! Sally! The town is decorated really good for our wedding!", said Lightning._

_"Who are you talking to?", whispered Mater. Lightning looked over to his left. Mater was parked next to him painted in a coat of black. He had a hood too. Doc was parked on Lightning's right but behind him. Doc was wearing black as well but his bumpers were painted white.  
"Doc?", asked Lightning._

_"Yes, Lightning?", asked Doc.  
"You look really good!"  
"Thanks, Lightning."  
Lightning looked down at his hood which was painted black. He assumed that his whole body was black and he was right. He looked at his tires and he was wearing white walls with golden hubcaps. All of the rest of men wore plain white wall tires and were painted black. Lightning looked over at his right. Four ladies were parked there. Flo, Mia, Tia, and Nurse GTO. All the ladies wore tires that were all white. Literally, all white, with rims made of opal. Also, all of the women, including the four with Lightning, were painted white.  
Lightning looked away from the four bridesmaids and down the street. Everything started to fade away.  
His dream was changing. Suddenly, he was surrounded by a racing stadium setting. Instead of being on the race track, he was parked in the audience.  
"...and here comes McQueen rounding turn four!", said Bob Cutlass, the announcers of the race. "MCQUEEN IS GONNA WIN THIS YEAR'S PISTON CUP!", yelled Darrel Cartrip, the other race announcer._

_"McQueen?", said Lightning. "But how? I'm over here!"  
He looked up at the screen that shows racers up close. A female racer was shown on the screen. She was a white Porsche. The number '95' was on her side painted in black. She had sponsor stickers all over her body. Suddenly, a name appeared on the screen. Lightning read it out loud, "Jane...Taylor...McQueen..?"  
Jane zoomed past the finish line.  
"WOOOOOOO HOOOO! YES!", Jane screamed. She drove onto the grass off the side of the track. She turned her tires, slammed on the gas, and started doing donuts. She ripped up the grass from under her tires when she did that which was leaving rings of dirt.  
"I WON!", she yelled. The whole audience of cars screamed her name and cheered. Lighting's eyes widened. He drove out of the audience and on the field.  
"Jane!", yelled Lightning. Bob and Darrel looked over at Lightning.  
"It looks like daddy is coming to give a congrats to Jane!", said Darrel. Lightning smiled wide, but the audience stopped cheering and Jane stopped doing donuts. Jane looked at Lightning and her mouth dropped open.  
"Dad?", asked Jane. Lightning started driving over to Jane. While he was driving he yelled, "My darling! You're racing? You race? Oh my-"  
"Looks like Lightning finally came back into Jane's life.", interrupted Bob. Lightning stopped hard and looked around him. He finally noticed the audience not making any more noise.  
"Huh?", asked Lightning. The whole audience started to 'boo' Lightning. Oil cans and food were being thrown and hitting Lightning in the face.  
"HEY!...UGH!...STOP!...What are you-...OW!...EWWW!", said Lighting, between throws.  
Jane started to back away from Lightning.  
"Well, you know what they say, Bob, racecars never have time for their kids. They just leave them for their mother to take care of them.", said Darell. Jane sped away from Lightning and into pit lane.  
"Security!", yelled Jane. A few big trucks crowded Lightning and pushed him away from her.  
"Stop! STOP!", Lightning begged.  
"LIGHTNING!", yelled a female voice from behind him. He turned around. It was Sally._

_"You left us with NOTHING!", screamed Sally. Lightning gasped. He could barely speak, "No I...I.."  
Lightning couldn't handle it. All of the security around him, his daughter as an adult, Sally yelling at him, and the audience booing him made him crack. He slammed on his gas pedal and sped away. "LIGHTNING! GET OVER HERE!", yelled Sally. "LIGHTNING! LIGHTNING!"_

-

"Lightning? Lightning? Lightning? Lightning!", said Sally. She nudged him. "Wake up. We need to go to our wedding."


	14. The Wedding

**Author's Note (Please read if you've been a fan of this story since it has been uploaded!):**

It's been a while since I've updated the story and some of you have actually found the unedited posts around the web. Like I said, I am going to tweak some of the chapters just a bit since I wrote this story when I was in high school. I'm in my second year of college now and I write a lot better, so that really made me not want to update this story anymore because that meant I needed to change up every single chapter and redo them. Instead, I'll just edit the ones that were already written, post them up, and then continue writing the story in the writing style that I developed since I wrote _How to Raise a Racecar_ for the brand new, never before seen (and not posted anywhere but my brain) chapters.

I kind of cringe reading this today because I improved so much..but I hope you guys can understand and stick with this immature writing until the brand new chapters come out. It'll take too much time to rewrite all of the chapters I already have written out, so I'll just edit those a bit, post them up, then continue writing this story. The reason why I came back is because over the past year, I have had people tell me they wanted to see this story continue. For those who liked it that much, your wish has been granted, and I will continue this story.

I cannot begin to tell you all how much you mean to me. You have no idea the overwhelming amount of gratitude I hold in my heart. To see that a lot of you still enjoy this story makes me so inspired. For the fans of this story, I encourage you to also read my other stories so you can see the difference in writing style that I'm talking about. You may like those stories too! So it'll give you something to look forward to while you're waiting for the chapters of this story to roll out again.

So with that, thank you for your patience, loyalty, and inspiration. It's you, right there behind the computer screen, that makes me want to write.

Last thing I want to mention, I'm going to label the chapters from now on.

**~Chapter 13~**

**"The Wedding"**

Lightning and Sally drove back down to Radiator Springs where their wedding was going to be held. The sun was just setting in the sky, which created the perfect romantic glow. The orange hue of the canyons seemed especially enchanting this evening. Rich, red roses were spread on strings dangling across the street lights. Flo had food and oil spread out on a large catering table, which had cars already lined up eating some food and the wedding didn't even start yet. Some of the cars were just fans who paid Lightning's team some big money to see him get married, and some of the cars were from Sally's family, and every member of the townsfolk were there; that's including the employees who worked for them. Music was blasting from Flo's Café. They mainly consisted of love songs, with the occasional top hit.

Lightning looked around at everyone, taking in the details of anything he could. This was a moment he never wanted to forget. They had the same tires, the same rims, the same hubcaps, and the same paint jobs as Lightning dreamed about the night before. Lightning, Sally, and Jane still needed to be painted for the wedding though. It's a custom that the bride, groom, and their children arrive at the wedding with their own paint job and get painted for the wedding that day. Two cars were headed Sally's way and Lightning looked over at them with a smile. One car was a male Corvette and the other was a female Lexus.

"Mom! Dad!" Sally called out.

"Hey Corven! Hey Lexi!" called Lightning. Corven was Sally's father and Lexi was Sally's mother.

"So now you're marrying the punk?" Corven asked Sally, playfully.

"Yes, dad," Sally rolled her eyes. "I am."

"My little girl! She's getting married and has her own family!" said Lexi. She could barely contain herself with her trembling axles, "I can't believe you made me a grandmother...I'm so young!"

Lightning laughed.

"Hey!" Lexi nudged him.

"I was only kidding.." said Lightning.

Corven looked around, as if he were looking for someone in particular. His eyes only stopped when he saw the rear end of a little white Porsche hiding behind Sally and he yelled, "Hey! There's my granddaughter!"

Jane gasped and took off down the street. Corven's eyes widened but his hanging jaw turned into a smile.

"She's a fast one! Must have gotten it from you, Sally!" said Corven.

"Oh, haha..very funny Corv..," said Lightning.

"Who said I was joking?" Corven sighed. "Well, she's challenging me to a race, it seems," he revved loudly and caught the eye of all of the other guests.

Lexi turned her tires inward, "Oh, please, Corven, you're embarrassing your-"

"VROOM!" Corven called out. He sped down the street chasing Jane. Sally looked at Lightning, "And that's what it's like to have a Corvette as your father," she chuckled. Lightning looked down at his hood. Lexi was listening to the two speaking, still trying to convince herself that everything around her was real and actually happening, but the look on Lightning's face broke her out of her own spell, "Lightning? What's the matter, dear?"

Lightning gently scuffed his tire into the dirt. Little pebbles rushed away from his treads, as if they didn't want to be hit next, "I wish he could have been here today."

Lexi's expression slowly melted. She drove over to Lightning and nuzzled her hood into his right fender.

"He probably wishes he could be here too," Lexi whispered. "I promise.."

Lightning shook his head, "No..not really."

Lexi raised a lid, not knowing what to say to him after that. Lightning felt a little paw on his rear right tire.

"AH!" he yelled.

He jumped forward and started to shake that tire, "Get it off! Get it off!"

Sally laughed, "Relax, Lightning. It's just a bunny!"

Lightning turned around and saw the fluffy white bunny with dark round eyes. Its nose was twitching causing its whiskers to vibrate.

"Oh..hey there little guy."

The bunny started to hop away. Lightning watched as its little feet pounded the ground. He looked over at Sally, "Wow..I never had that happen to me outside of a pet store."

The sound of a tiny engine zipping was heard. Lightning turned and saw Jane coming at him at full speed.

"Jane! No!" Lightning called out. She still didn't know how to use her brakes that well. Just then, a tow hook flew into Jane's bumper. She squealed.

"Gotcha!", yelled a raspy voice.

It was Bubba. He drove to Lightning with Jane.

"You almost hit your lil' daddy!", Bubba tapped Lightning's roof with his tire. Lightning rolled his eyes. It wasn't that Lightning was short or too small, it was Bubba who was too massive.

"Yo! McQueen!", yelled a familiar voice.

"Chick?", said Lightning, in disbelief. Chick was driving into Lightning and Sally's wedding with Jane, Chick's girlfriend, not Lightning's daughter.

"Yeah, it's me at your wedding! You-"

"Get out, Chick."

"No! Don't worry I'm not going to do anything."

"Leave."

"No, listen!"

Lightning sighed, "Okay, Chick, what?"

Chick pulled back a bit, groaning, and looked at his girlfriend.

"Tell him.", said Jane. "Tell him what you told me you were going to tell him."

Chick sighed, "Look, Lightning. I've said things in the past that, well, were mean."

"Go on," said Lightning.

"..and I'm here because I was, well, thinking about you."

"Thinking about me? Chick, do you honestly think-"

"I'm sorry."

Lightning's engine dropped, "What?"

Chick held out his right tire, "Congrats, you know, on the...marriage thing."

Lightning stared at Chick's tire, put out his left tire, and shook tires with him. He smiled, "Wow, Chick..thanks, man."

Chick smiled. Ramone drove over to Lightning.

"Come on, Lightning, you gotta get painted up," said Ramone. Lightning nodded. He drove inside of Ramone's shop. Inside, he saw where the cars got painted. He saw white paint on the floor in the outline of Sally's body and it made his engine race.

Ramone chuckled, "Okay, okay, Lightning, I know you're excited to see Sally. Let's get you painted."

Lightning shut his eyes, took in a deep breath and shut his mouth as Ramone began to paint him. Luigi was also in Ramone's shop putting on the tires and hubcaps.

After about ten minutes, Ramone said, "Alright! Open your eyes!"

Lightning opened his eyes and saw that he was painted in the exact same way as his dream and his hubcaps were exactly the same as well.

"She's gonna love you a lot more than usual, tonight.", said Ramone. He laughed. Lightning couldn't wipe away his smile. It was a smile that wouldn't be able to be recreated.

Outside of Ramone's shop, Sally was with Flo right at the end of the street. The end opposite of Stanley's statue. The end where Lightning first entered town. Jane was with them also.

"So, you nervous?", asked Flo.

Sally shrugged her tires, "To tell you the truth, I can't tell you how I'm feeling. It's all mixed emotions. I'm..happy..and excited! But on the other tire, I'm feeling like, somethings not right."

"Something isn't right?"

"Yeah, but it's hard to explain..it's weird."

"Girl, you sure you alright?"

Ramone drove out of his shop. he looked down the street and whistled at Flo to get her attention. Flo looked over at Ramone. Ramone waved his tire around. Flo smiled really wide.

"Oh! Sally! It's time!", she yelled.

Sally gasped.

"Jane! Stay here, okay? When you hear music, start driving to daddy, okay?"

Jane was at that age where she was able to understand speech, but still wasn't able to speak.

"Good girl, Jane."

Sally kissed her and smiled.

"Cars grow up so fast.", she thought.

Sally turned around and drove down the street to hide behind the Radiator Springs sign.

"Alright Lightning, go park over there.", said Ramone. He pointed his tire at Stanley's statue. Lightning listened to him and drove over. Everyone parked on the sides of the street, but facing the street to watch Sally drive down. Flo turned off the speakers for the love songs and it was silent.

"Alright, come on.", said Flo to an unknown female car. She was a silver Audi A6 with an acoustic guitar strapped to her front bumper. Flo directed her to the center of the cafe. The female car parked right there. Guido drove to where the female car was too. He was pushing drums over. He smiled at her.

"I'll go get the microphone.", said Flo.

Flo disappeared into the little office/kitchen and appeared once again with a microphone on a stand, the perfect height for a car, after a minute. She stood the microphone in front of the Audi.

"Guido, do you have your drum sticks?", asked Flo. Guido nodded. He drove behind the drums and held up his sticks in playing position. The Audi lifted one tire up to the fretboard of the guitar, and the other tire to the sound hole.

"Testing," she said into the microphone. The microphone squeaked a tiny bit and she cringed. Doc drove to Stanley's statue. He was going to be the one to wed Lightning and Sally. He cleared his throat.

"Will all of the bridesmaids and the best man please come down and park over here with the groom?", Doc asked.

Flo, Mia, Tia, and Nurse GTO drove to the statue and parked on the left side.

"Where is he?", Lightning thought. Doc groaned. His face was starting to show his signature agitation. Whispers were heard throughout the cars parked on the side of the street. Sally was tapping her tire, waiting to start driving. She wasn't tapping because she was annoyed at the tardiness of the best man, but at how nervous she was.

"I hope I remember my vows..oh my Manufacturer...oh my Manufacturer...please, Manufacturer, let me remember my vows. Please," Sally thought.

"I'm here! Imma comin'!", yelled an ugly voice.

Lightning heard the yells and squinted at the road. Mater was speeding to the wedding. When he arrived, he parked next to Lightning. He was all rusty, still. He was supposed to get the required paint job and tires. Lightning's oil boiled as a result.

"MATER!", Lightning growled.

His voice echoed through the canyons. All the cars fell silent. Mater looked down at what should have been his hood and he scuffed the ground with his right front tire. Lightning clenched his teeth tightly.

"MATER, YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!", he yelled, his voice still echoing.

Mater just stared at Lightning for a moment. His lips started to quiver.

"I'm...I'm sorry..buddy.", said Mater, in a choked up voice.

"Mater, you're always sorry.", Lightning replied.

Mater felt so much shame. He didn't say another word. He just stayed parked there, not looking at Lightning. He had a very sorry look on his face. Lightning saw this and rolled his eyes. Doc cleared his throat.

"Um, yes...well..", he said, changing the subject. "Are you ready to begin, Lightning?"

Lightning nodded slowly. Doc looked at Flo and waved his tire. Flo gave Doc an approved nod and turned to Guido.

"Are you ready, Guido?", asked Flo.

Guido smiled, "Pitstop!"

Flo smiled and turned to the female Audi.

"Are you ready, Joan?", she asked.

The Audi smiled wide, "Yes I am."

With that said, Flo counted them off, "And a one...and a two..and a..."

Guido started playing a soft beat to start 'Here Comes The Bride'. After four measures, Joan started to play the melody with her guitar.

Do, do, do do...do, do, do do...

Jane heard the music and started to drive down the road nice and slowly. A bouquet of flowers was closed between her trunk. The pedals touched the road as she drove forward, ripping the pedals off and leaving them on the road. She was quite the flower girl. Sally took a deep breath and started to drive toward Lightning. All of the cars turned their hoods to Sally. There were gasps heard in the audience and "Ohhh!"s and "Ahhh!"s. She was painted white with a slight hint of glitter. Her rims were made of pure diamond. Her lips were curled up in a small smile. She wore a veil that brushed against her windshield and on her hood.

Lightning couldn't take his eyes off of her.

He was speechless and thoughtless. His gas tank began to turn. The closer Sally got to Lightning, the more his axles ached. Lightning felt as if he couldn't hold himself up much longer. He swallowed hard and his saliva struggled down his throat. His engine sank and started to purr at a low volume.

"Sally..", he whispered.

Sally finally reached the end of the road and parked next to Lightning. Joan and Guido stopped playing. Doc gave the engaged couple a few seconds to themselves. Sally was smiling. It was a smile that Lightning has never seen before. It was a new.

"Sally..?" Lightning started. "You.."

He couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Yes?" Sally asked in suspense.

Lightning still didn't answer. The crowd stared awkwardly at Lightning. Doc smiled.

"We'll just begin then," said Doc.

Lightning exhaled heavily. Sally giggled.

"I'm such an idiot..," he thought.

Doc cleared his throat and took in a deep breath.

Doc started his speech, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of the manufacturer and in the face of the audience to join together this man and this woman forever.."

Lightning started to drift off in Sally's eyes. Doc's voice started to slip away and so did the image of the town.

It was only her.

It was only Sally.

Sally.

He just stared at her. Sally's eyes seemed so safe. They were nice and warm. Lightning could feel everything in those eyes. His life would always flash by when he looked into them, but this time it was stronger. Sally was just a girlfriend before. Now, Sally is about to be his wife. This time, when his life flashed before him, it all came in much clearer. He felt what his childhood should have felt have felt like. He felt his mother. He heard her humming. But it all started to change. The warm feeling went away. Lightning started to feel cold and he saw his father but his father disappeared really fast.

Lightning zoomed out to stare at Sally's lips. There were perfectly plump and glossed with a little saliva. He looked away from her lips and back at her whole picture. He loved her so much. Suddenly the town's imaged faded back in. Doc's muffled voice that sounded like thunder started to clear up into a rain of words.

"The couple has chosen to say their own vows. Sally, will you please start?", asked Doc.

Sally took a deep breath in. Lightning swallowed hard.

"Oh no..", he thought. His engine sank and his black paint started to look like a pale, worn out, black. "I never wrote the vows.."

Sally looked into Lightning's eyes and started her vows.

"Lightning, the day we met is a day that I will never release out of my memory. I will never forget the look on your face. Those widened eyes, those parted lips, and that blank stare you always do," she paused and laughed lightly. "Kind of the look you're giving me now!"

The audience laughed with her. Lightning put on his fake smile as Sally continued.

"When I finally gave into the feelings you created in me, that I, myself, still don't understand, and probably will never understand, I knew that we were going to make it work. But when you were taken from me, I couldn't help but think it was all a dream."

Lightning stopped thinking about the vows he never wrote and was pulled into her stare again. He had the biggest urge to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her now. Lightning gently touched his tongue to his lips slowly and pulled it back. Sally continued.

"I knew I would see you again, but just on the T.V. I wouldn't see you in person ever again. I would never see those blue eyes, I would never hear that beautiful chuckle, that piercing 'Ka-Chow', or see that sparkling lucky sticker ever again. All I was looking for was love, true love. That's all I always wanted. You gave that to me, Lightning McQueen."

Lightning, with his blank expression, thought back to the past.

_Lightning could see glistening under Sally's eyes from the red lights coming off of Mack. She was about to cry. He gasped as he saw his love backing away from him. Sally's voice echoed in Lightning's mind as she said, "I hope you find what you're looking for.."_

_She started to drive away._

"Sally..", said Lightning aloud, by total accident. He had to say her name, just like that night.

The audience looked at him.

"Yes?", asked Sally.

"No..I...didn't mean to say that. Keep going..," Lightning replied.

So, Sally continued.

"I've finally found what I was looking for my entire life. I've always dreamed about what my wedding would be like, but I never thought it would be like this. Once again, Lightning, you took my dreams and made them an even better reality. Through all of the fights we go through, I will always love you. As we begin our lives together, my love for you will continue to grow."

Sally stopped to signal she was done and Doc smiled, along with McQueen. He was still daydreaming a bit so he didn't realize it was now his turn.

"Alright, Lightning. It's your turn now.", said Doc.

Lightning stopped breathing. He just stared at Sally.

"Lightning?" asked Doc.

"Sweetie?" Sally pulled in closer.

Lightning shook himself and started breathing again. He bit his lips. Sally was starting to get nervous. When things like this happened, it usually mean the groom was going to skip out on the bride.

"Come on, Lightning. Stop playing around," said Doc.

Sally's mouth hung open and the feeling of hurt was starting to fill in her eyes. Lightning was able to see the glistening under Sally's eyes again, the same from the night he was pulled away from her, and because of this, he snapped out of it.

"Sally..forgive me?" he said.

Sally's hurt turned to confusion, "What?"

"I..", Lightning started. Lightning swallowed hard, thinking, "Should I tell her..?"

Lightning continued where he left off anyway.

"I love you so much. You know, saying things to you is just so hard. I don't know why, but I can't seem to ever do it. I'm not good with words. I don't even know why you still even love me. I'm not a good man. I forgot to write my vows. I forgot to write them. What kind of a man is that? What kind of a man would do that to his own wedding? What kind of a man would do that to his woman? Sally, I'm just going to tell you everything right now. All of the things I love about you. About us. Me and you are so perfect. The day I saw you for the first time, your face glowed like an angel from above. I thought I was staring at one. The way you drive in such a calm way.

"The way you laugh when I do something stupid. The way you call me Stickers. The way you look at me when we're parked in front of a sunset. The way you look at me when we're in bed at night and it's just me and you with the glow of the moon through the shades. The way me and you look at the stars and try outlining our bodies in them, making us a constellation. The way you can be so nice and proper. The way you can be unpredictable. The curves of your body. The eyes that make me feel like I'm worth something. The eyes that make me feel home. The eyes that make me..feel.

"Like you said, when I was taken from you, I was so..so...devastated. I was just parked there in Mack. I was so upset that I didn't even cry. All I kept thinking was 'Why does everything I love, everything I want, and everything my heart needs, always taken from me?' I thought those words in my head over and over again. I fell asleep that night and I dreamed of your face. That's all it was. You in front of that waterfall. The mist of the waterfall gently hitting your body."

Bubba looked down at his hood. He exhaled.

"This probably isn't such a good time to tell him," Bubba thought.

Lightning continued.

"Mater.."

Mater looked up.

"Huh?" he asked.

"How can I forget about you? You're the one that brought us together in the first place. All you did was help me. All you did was be my best friend. Before you, truth is, I had no real friends. All you did was be nice to me and how do I repay you? I yell at you for not being painted the right way for our wedding. What kind of a friend is that? I'm sorry I didn't realize it all before. I'm sorry I never acknowledged you better. How many times have you ever passed something so many times without actually seeing it? You can just live your life and pass so many things, never really looking at the big picture. Mater, without you, Sally would have died that night. You saved her life for me. How do I repay you? I yell at you for not being painted the right way for our wedding.

"Mater, you'd think the one person not painted for the wedding is the idiot, but the only stupid one here is me. I'm the idiot. I'm the one who forgot his vows. I'm the one who never appreciates anything from his friends. The only idiot here is me. Me. I'm the only idiot. Sally, tonight you are marrying the happiest idiot in the world. I love you. More than yesterday and less than tomorrow."

Sally was speechless. Mater put his tire out to Lightning and Lightning put his tire out to him. They shook tires.

Doc felt his voice choke up, "Does anyone feel like these two sh-should not be wed? Speak now or f-forever hold your peace."

Flo looked at the audience and gave them a very dirty look, making sure no one said a thing. After a few moments, Doc asked the big question.

"Then with that, do you Sally Carrera take Lightning McQueen to be your husband? To love each other for as long as you both shall live?"

Sally nodded really fast in excitement, "I do!"

"And do you, Lightning McQueen take Sally Carrera to be your wife? To love each other for as long as you both shall live?"

"No, I don't," said Lightning.

The audience gasped. Sally's smile turned into an instant frown. She went to drive away, but Lightning took his tire and grabbed hers to hold her back.

Lightning continued, "I take Sally Carrera to be my wife for longer than we both shall live. For eternity. For infinity and beyond."

Sally turned to Lightning and smiled once again, right through her tears. Doc cleared his throat to get everybody's attention back.

"That was..beautiful, Lightning," said Doc. "Without anything further, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Lightning took in one last image of Sally and Sally took in one last image of Lightning, then they both closed their eyes and moved into each other. They locked their lips together and held them there for a few minutes while the audience cheered loudly. Jane cringed at all of the noise.

Sally pulled away slowly and opened her eyes. Lightning's eyes were still closed and he was smiling.

"Hey, do you remember that surprise I was telling you about last night?" asked Sally.

Lightning opened his eyes, "Yes I do."

"Well.."

She went from looking at him, to looking past him. She smiled at what was behind him. Lightning wondered why Sally was looking behind him, and since he didn't have side view mirrors, he couldn't see what it was. So he turned around and his jaw dropped. Sally pulled up next to him.

"Surprise!", Sally whispered. She kissed his side. Lightning couldn't speak. In front of Lightning was a woman. She was a silver 2000 Subaru Legacy. The woman smiled at Lightning.

"Sally...how did you..?", Lightning started to ask. He continued looking at the woman.

"How?" Sally asked. "Because I love you."

All Lightning could say was, "Mom..?"

The woman nodded while smiling, "Lightning!"

"MOM!" he sped into her and snuggled his face into her front bumper.

She laughed, "Thank you, Sally."

"You're welcome, Midge.", Sally replied.

Lightning pulled away and started to stare at her some more.

"Mom?" Lightning asked again in disbelief.

Midge laughed and nodded, "Yes?"

Bubba was biting his lip. He saw the magical reunion between Lightning and his mother.

"If I tell him now, it'll ruin the whole day.", thought Bubba. "But if I tell him now, maybe it will finally put his mind at ease in a weird way."

Bubba drove over to Sally, Midge, and Lightning. He cleared his throat.

"Lightning," said Bubba.

Lightning turned around.

"Oh..hey," said Lightning.

"Can we talk for a few minutes? I have something that I really need to get off of my undercarriage."

"Um..sure okay."

Lightning turned back to his mother, "I'll only be a minute mom."

So, Lightning followed Bubba out of the town. They were driving towards Tailfin Pass. Midge looked down and saw a little white Porsche.

"Jane, that's grandma!", Sally exclaimed, noticing her.

"I'm a grandmother too?", Midge was so delighted, "I find out that I'm about to have a daughter-in-law-..well, I have one now! And now I find out I'm a grandmother? This is one of the happiest days of my life. To tie it all together, I finally see my son in person!"

"Well, it's a pleasure to reunite you two.", said Sally.

Today was beautiful. Everything was going as planned. The wedding was great, the food was great, the music was great, Lightning saw his mother again, and Lightning finally said 'Thank you.' to Mater.

Bubba seemed to be driving to tailfin pass very quickly. The sky was now dark. Lightning was next to Bubba and because of that, he was able to see in front of him; Bubba had headlights. The sky was slightly lit by the full moon and stars.

"Bubba! Slow down! What's the rush?" asked Lightning.

Bubba was breathing heavily. Lightning was used to going way faster than this, but Bubba was a big tow truck. Bigger than Mater - unhealthy. He was running out of breath due to lack of stamina.

"I..need to...tell...you...some...thing...," said Bubba, in between breaths.

They finally reached the top.

"Look...look over this...", said Bubba. Lightning looked over the edge of the canyon.

"Yeah?", he asked. "What about it?"

"Isn't it beautiful?", asked Bubba.

"It's..the ground down there," said Lightning.

"No no..not that. Up there," Bubba corrected. He pointed to the night sky with a tire.

"Oh...yeah..," said Lightning.

"Imagine."

"Imagine what, Bubba?"

"Imagine a universe up there. Like..another one."

"Another one..?"

"Yeah one where...where cars have no eyes...no mouths...no voices..", Bubba paused. He turned to

Lightning and continued, "No soul.."

Lightning backed away a bit.

"Bubba...you're scaring me."

Just then, Bubba snapped. Just hearing a car tell him he was scary was always enough to send him in a spiraling, unbalanced, rage.

Bubba let out an evil, metal screeching, laugh. He drove to Lightning and flashed a crooked smile and his gnarly teeth. He took both of his front tires and grabbed them with his. He started to sing to Lightning in an eerie voice.

"Somewhere over the rainbow...way up..HIGH," he hit Lightning in the face with his tire, "There's a land that I've heard of once in a...LULL-A-BY," with every syllable, he hit Lightning.

"Urgh! Stop! STOP!"

Bubba grabbed his mouth.

"You cry because daddy used to sing that to you every single night," said Bubba. He laughed, "And do you want to know where daddy is?"

Lightning started to tremble.

"D-Dead..? Dead..", said Lightning.

Bubba smiled.

"YEAH HE'S DEAD!", Bubba snarled. "And guess what!"

Lightning closed his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth.

"W-What?" Lightning asked, through his teeth.

Bubba drove to Lightning's side and whispered to him, "Bubba...killed him."

Lightning's engine sank and his mouth hung open. His jaw was vibrating. He blinked fast.

Bubba drove back to Lightning's front and coughed in his face. Spit flew on Lightning's hood and windshield. Lightning was in such shock he didn't even care. He looked through drops of spit at Bubba. Because of the moisture, it looked like he was seeing double.

"Know what Bubba is gonna do to you?", asked Bubba.

Lightning didn't answer.

"Let's just say, no one is going to hear you scream, Lightning."

The bunny from earlier just stared at McQueen and hopped away.


	15. A Small Town Miracle

**~Chapter 14~**

**"A Small Town Miracle"**

Bubba was hanging Lightning over the edge of the canyon. It was as if time was repeating itself. He hung Lightning there the same way he did Sally. As Lightning accidentally looked down at the fading distance underneath him, he realized he was staring death right in the face.

"Bubba..please..I...what did I do?"

Bubba thought the whole situation was hilarious. He let out his famous evil laugh.

"Nothing!" Bubba teased. "That's what makes me a murderer."

"Bubba, please. I just got married! Please."

"You need to give me a better reason than that."

Lightning's mind was racing.

How do you get inside the mind of a murderer? Lightning thought. "What do I say to him?"

"I'm waiting."

"I..have a baby.."

"That? Hah..that?"

"Y-Yes..? Bubba...please..I..need her. She needs me..."

"You don't know that she needs you-"

"YES I DO."

"How, McQueen?"

"Because YOU took my father away from me."

Lightning's voice rolled through the canyons, but Bubba didn't move.

"Fine. You want your daddy back-"

"No don't! Don't-"

Bubba swung his hook around and Lightning watch as the world sway from side to side.

"NO BUBBA-"

"You'll see your daddy."

Bubba let Lightning go.

Lightning screamed at the top of his voice. The warm desert air flew in his face. The ground grew closer and closer, then nothing. Just the sound of crushed metal and the smell of leaking gasoline mixed with motor oil.

Bubba admired his work with a small smile cracked on his bumper. He gathered spit at the back of his throat and spat it out over the edge. He watched it travel down and hit Lightning's body.

"Make sure you tell daddy I said 'Hi'."

Three hours later, all the guests went home from the wedding. They grew tired of waiting for Lightning to come back. After all, he was three hours late to cut the wedding cake with Sally. Midge, Sally, and Flo were parked at Flo's. Sally was trying to calm down.

"What if he left me?", Sally asked. "Why doesn't he love me!?" she broke down in tears.

"Where could that boy be?" Flo sighed. Jane whimpered softly to herself. She was able to feel the tension from the adult around her. Midge was rubbing Sally's fender softly with her tire.

"Darling, I know Lightning. He never once left a woman like this," explained Midge. Sally wouldn't believe it.

That's such a lie, Sally thought. Maybe not to her, but it's a lie. If a man sees a woman, he will drive circles around her until she gives in, or until she hits him. He's very famous. He's had many girlfriends. Many girlfriends. This scares me...but me? Me? She's right. Lightning would never do this to me. He wanted to marry me, after all. And he's my husband now.

Jane whimpered some more, enough to get Sally to finally look at her.

"It's okay, Jane," Sally assured. "Daddy is on his way home."

Jane's innocence made her believe her mother, but just then, Doc came speeding from Tailfin Pass.

"HEY!", he yelled. All the women turned their hoods.

"What happened, Doc?", asked Flo.

Doc was out of breath, "It's...Lightning...he...he's...we...come on!"

Doc turned back around and sped with the women who were now close behind him. Jane recognized 'Lightning' was her father's name so she sped too. No, she didn't speed. She raced. Jane went faster than Flo and her mother, faster than the Hudson Hornet. Jane was flying. Flashing police lights filled the foggy mist.

"Hey Sheriff!", called Doc. "How is-"

Sheriff just shook his hood, and Doc was silent.

"Lightning?" Sally called. She saw his body. He was on the ground with all of his tires spread out in a pool of his gasoline and oil. Sally stared in horror.

"Lightning? Stickers! Wake up!" Sally drove to him and started nudging him with her wheel, but it was no use. He didn't move. Lightning was covered in dents and dirt was jammed in all parts of his body. His eyes were closed and his mouth hung open. Shaking her hood, Sally pulled away. Tears formed in her eyes.

"Lightning.." she said, choked up. "C-Come on, Stickers, stop it...stop playing.."

Sheriff drove to Sally and leaned on her to comfort her, which instantly made her start to cry. Lightning just stayed on the ground, not moving once. Doc put his tire under Lightning's undercarriage.

"Hold on..he's unconscious..," said Doc. Sally let out a sigh of relief. At least it he wasn't dead.

"We need to get him to the emergency room," said Flo. "Now."

After a few minutes an ambulette came and helped Doc take Lightning away to his clinic back in Radiator Springs. Lightning was then taken out of the ambulette and put into a room. Sally told Flo and Midge to go home, but Midge insisted to stay. Flo, however, agreed and thought it would be best if she didn't stay. Jane, of course, stayed with Sally.

"We got him to open his eyes on the way over here," said Doc.

"That's great!" Sally called out. Lightning's mother lowered on her suspension. Doc turned to Lightning.

"Hey..," he said softly. "Wake up, son."

Lightning opened his eyes to just slits. He couldn't open them anymore than that, as his eyes were too swollen.

"Stickers, Sally whispered. Lightning's eyes rolled to Sally. He forced himself to smile, just like he did when he found out he forgot his lines, only this time it hurt more physically than mentally.

"Sa..Sal...S-Sally…," Lightning struggled. She drove closer to hear him better, "Yes?"

"I..I loved..loved...l-loved you so much..", replied Lightning.

Loved?

His voice stayed very low and hoarse, "I..I won't make it out of this room tonight. I just can't-"

"Don't you say that..," Sally said, gritting her teeth, "Don't say that.."

Lightning just stared at Sally for a few moments, taking in how different she looked now, than when he saw her a few hours ago. Her glow was no longer there. She looked like she had everything taken out of her, "Sally...Sally...it's okay-"

"No! It's not.."

"Sweetheart..."

"Lightning..," Sally started to cry. She nuzzled her face against his.

"S-..Sal..," Lightning took in a deep breath and tried to push himself up. His voice sung softly, the song that played when he ignited Sally's spark for the first time, "L-Life...could be a...dr-dream..if I co-could...take you up in..paradise..up above...if-..if you would tell me...I'm the only one that...you love…," he changed the lyric a little, "My life..became a dream, sweetheart.."

Sally crying was silenced and her pupils widened at Lightning, "I love you..I never said it enough, but..I do.."

"I l-love...you too..," Lightning started. He leaned over to Sally, barely able to move anymore and whispered, "For infinity..and beyond..."

Sally could feel him struggling, and rather than watching him do that, she decided to take away his pain, and backed away. This made Jane catch Lightning's eye. She was parked behind Sally, shocked to see her father all broken.

"Jane…," Lightning said. Sally nudged Jane forward, letting her know that it was okay to drive over.

She looked into his eyes. She listened.

"Jane..I..need you to know something...I need you to know it...now...before time goes on anymore..daddy had no daddy growing up..and...I..," Lightning tried his best to hold back his tears, "I..don't think daddy is...going...to be here much longer for you..."

Little Jane rolled closer to Lightning.

"Jane..", Lightning continued. "I...I never heard my daddy tell me he loved me...so...I want..you to promise me..that you know I loved you, my little star..that's what we named you after, you know...daddy loves you so much..."

The pressure from tears behind Lightning's eyes was unbearable and started to seep out. After a few moments he tried to control himself better.

No. McQueen, stop, he thought. You can't cry now. Don't show Jane you cry.

He continued to talk to Jane, "Jane...I want you to know...that I tried...I tried so hard...but everyone was right. Racecars don't have the greatest parents..and they're not the greatest parents themselves..but...I would have been an..an amazing one. I want you to know that. I was so prepared..to be a father...to raise you...I would have been there for you..when that guy never called you back...when your friends said something mean to you...your first day of high school...your graduation...I would have seen you be a success..I would have heard your first words...I would have done it all...but-"

Midge rolled over to him, "Lightning, don't leave me again.."

"Mom...if I could-"

"D-Da-Da?", asked a little sobbing voice. Lightning opened his eyes a little wider, though it still hurt. He looked at Jane. She blinked a few times and tears ran down her hood.

She opened her mouth to talk again, "Da-Da.."

Sally's breath was taken away and she drove to Jane with a smile on her face once again.

Lightning was in awe, "I waited so long to finally hear...to finally hear your voice."

"Da-Da!" Jane yelled.

Lightning looked at Jane with sorry eyes. I'm Lightning McQueen. I can handle anything. I'm not letting Bubba take me away. I'm not.

Lightning shook his hood, "No, Jane..", he said. "Daddy won't go."

Jane started to bounce and jump in happiness. Lightning looked at Sally who was watching him back. She was smiling.

Thank you, Sally mouthed. Lightning nodded, looking back to Jane.

"As long as the stars are glued to the sky, as long as I'm alive, as long as the Earth keeps spinning, I will watch you grow," he said, "Jane Taylor...I will watch you glisten and show the world how bright you are."

Jane leaned up to Lightning with a smile on her face. She was about to pucker her lips and give her father a kiss when Sheriff drove in.

"Has anyone seen Mater? Oh, Hotrodder!" said Sheriff. "How ya feelin'?"

"Mater?"

"That's good," said Sheriff. He smiled. "But anyway, has anyone seen Mater?"

"He's lost?" asked Doc, whose attention was quickly brought back to the situation from analyzing McQueen's vitals. Sheriff nodded his hood to Doc, "I was talking to him. Tellin' him about Lightning," said Sheriff, "Then he just sped off to ornament valley."

Lightning could feel a bulge in his throat. His mind was taken from his daughter.

Mater, he thought, no..


	16. How to Get Revenge

**~Chapter 15~**

**"How to Get Revenge"**

The Autumn sun gently heated Radiator Springs this time of the year. Instead of its usual boiling temperatures, it was now 8am and 41 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sheriff had just told Mater about what happened with Bubba, how he hung Lightning over the edge like Sally. How Bubba actually let Lightning go, unlike Sally. With this, the only thing Mater could think about was how he wasn't even there to swing down his hook to save his best friend.

Bubba moved since the Sally incident. He now lived in a shack in Ornament Valley. It was all made of this junk wood that had moss growing on it. The wood was moist to the touch, though it barely rained in the desert. When any car drove inside of the place, they choked on the smell of mold. And since it was Bubba's place, one wouldn't be surprised if a car could swear they're able to smell death. The gasoline and oil of another car's soul.

Another car that will never see the sun anymore. Another car that will never breath the clean mountain air again. Another car that will never complain about how late they are to work. Another car that will never complain about getting hurt from a small ding, created by the driving of another careless car. Another car that will never see their family ever again. Another car that will never see their friends again. Another car that will never see the car they would have married. Another car that will never have another chance to say, "I love you." to anyone. Another car that just took life for granted, just like any other car.

That was one of the reasons Bubba never really cared. They're all guilty of it. A car could just be parked inside their home, waiting at the breakfast table. The car could smell their mother cooking up the food, the aroma of bacon and eggs. And while this is going on, another car somewhere else in the world is starving and can't move because they need the gasoline. Then the car waiting at the breakfast table for their food gets the food, squishes their face and says, "I hate eggs." They lift their tire and shove the plate of food away. The food, falling off of the plate, as the mother just stares and a piece inside of her dies.

The starving car would kill, just like Bubba, to get those pieces of food that fell off of the car's plate. That's when one realizes that no matter how good someone is, there's always that bad side. Some cars would say, "Oh, that bad car just can't control himself. He'll find himself eventually and he'll realize all the wrong things he's done."

While some other cars would say, "Ugh, you know, I just hate those kinds of cars. There is nothing good about them. Nothing good at all."

"But don't they all have feelings? Good or bad, don't they all have feelings?"

"Cars like that have no soul. They have no feelings."

"Don't they have a family too? They need parents to grow up."

"Look how they turned out. Some parents."

"Wow, you're as cold as those killer cars!"

"You're as gullible as those killer cars' parents!"

An instant argument. It turns into an argument every single time because there's no such thing as good or bad. The only real thing is: existing. How a car lives their life, is their choice. Everyone is able to make their own choices. Someday, the baby turns into a teenager. Everyone knows how teenage cars are, but they aren't all like what one would think. Not all teenage cars are crazy and rebellious. They choose to be that way while other teenage cars choose to be scholars. Then the teenage car grows up to be an adult.

All of a sudden, there no one helping them out. They're on their own. No one feels sorry for them. That's when the cold splash of reality comes into play. Some cars shake off the water, dry themselves off, and live their life. Other cars freak out when the cold water touches them. They go crazy. They fling themselves all over the place and then it happens: they kill for the first time. Any car that has killed before knows that the first kill is always the scariest one, but they aren't like the cars that shook the water off. The cars that shook the water off would feel guilty and they couldn't live with themselves. The crazy ones, they do it again. Killing becomes their paycheck. It becomes their drug; they need to go out and kill more. That's just how Bubba is.

A car could think they're a normal car, but then something just snaps. Something breaks in their mind. They don't know who they are anymore. They want to feel comfortable again, so they kill. Some murderers don't even remember killing. Some remember, but refuse to, like Bubba.

Poor Bubba.

Lightning saw the sun through his eyelids and he opened them. He forgot, just for a split second, that he got hurt. So he lowered them really fast. They were just slits again. Lightning looked around the room. He saw Sally sleeping in the corner of the room he was in. Jane was underneath Sally sleeping. Under Jane was her little bottle of tractor milk. Lightning smiled at his little family. He looked over to his side where there was a table, and on the table was a piece of the wedding cake from the night before.

Oh, that's right, Lightning thought. We never could cut the cake together...last night was a disaster...it's my fault.

Lightning looked over at Sally again. He had an idea.

"Psst!", Lightning called out, softly. "Sally!"

Sally opened her eyes groggily. She groaned a little. Who likes being woken up? She always does that funny groan when she wakes up, and it amused him.

"Hey, Stickers," Sally whispered. Any other time, she would have let Lightning know once again how much it bothered her that he makes fun of her in the morning, but he need her to amuse him, "How are you feeling?"

"The same," Lightning replied. "Come here.."

Sally gently drove over Jane, being careful not to run her over. When she reached Lightning, he had already has his lips out for a kiss. Sally smiled and put her lips on his. After a few seconds, Lightning started to open his mouth, to open hers, but Sally pulled away fast.

"Jane is in the room with us..," said Sally. Lightning chuckled, "She's asleep."

Sally glanced over at Jane, then back to Lightning.

"Pleeease?" Lightning begged, playfully. "Come on, she won't see."

Sally sighed, "Lightning, Jane can speak a bit now..the last thing I need is for her to drive up to me asking 'Can I kiss you the way daddy kisses you?' That would be more than a bit weird.."

"Sally, I promise she won't see. When am I ever wrong?"

Sally made a face at Lightning, a face that told him: You're always wrong.

"Heh heh...don't answer that..," said Lightning. "Anyway, let's cut the cake together then..we're here."

"Lightning, it's too early for cake! Jane is going to wake up and see us eating cake? What kind of an example does that set?"

"Oh, will you stop? Relax, baby. Look at her over there, she's dreaming."

Sally looked over and there Jane was, kicking her tires out and moving from side to side in her slumber. This made Sally chuckle to herself softly.

"You know, you're cute when you giggle," said Lightning. Sally rolled her eyes, "No grown up kisses, Stickers.."

Mater drove to Ornament Valley and went straight for the wooden shack that Bubba lived in. He started to bang on the door. Bubba pressed a button from the inside and the garage door opened. He looked at Mater who wore a rare angered expression.

Bubba growled, "Whatuh you wan-"

"Me. You. Tractor Tipping. T'night," Mater interrupted.

Bubba relaxed a bit, thinking that he came for something to do with McQueen, "Outta here. I ain't doin' anything with the likes of you."

"Oh yes ya are!"

"Ugh fine," Bubba smirked, "As long as I'm able to take one home for dinner."

Mater thought for a few moments, nodding, "Yeah somethin' is gonna be dinner alright."


	17. The Best Tractor Tipper

**~Chapter 16~**

**"The Best Tractor Tipper"**

Lightning was parked in the same examination room with Jane upon his hood. She had all of her tires spread out so that the bottom of her body was touching Lightning's hood. Lightning was rocking back and forth so that it would sway Jane. He was in a lot of pain and it hurt to move, but he would do anything for her.

Lightning sang while he rocked her, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the Earth so high, like a spark plug in the sky."

"Da-da! More!" Jane squealed. Lightning could feel his engine get warmer from Jane's voice.

"Okay," said Lightning. "Do you want to sing with me?"

Jane's smile got really big and she got up on her tires, nodding really fast in excitement.

Lightning chuckled, "You have to sing some of the alphabet for me first, Jane."

This made her smile fade a little, and she thought for a few moments to get her act together.

"A-Ay..Bee..See...Dee...yyy..effff..jee..aych...ey...jay..kay...", she sang. She stopped for a moment, "Nnnmmm.."

"Come on, sweetheart. You know the next four."

"Elemeno?"

Caught off guard, Lightning started to laugh harder than he ever would have thought he could at something so small.

The sun was just setting, which means it was Sally's time to come home from her job while another employee she hired took over while she was gone. When she arrived at Doc's clinic, she knocked on Lightning's door with her tire.

"It's open!" he called out. Sally pressed the button to open the garage door and drove inside, "How are you, Stickers?"

"I'm okay, still in a lot of pain though."

Sally frowned and drove over to McQueen.

"Things will get better," said Sally before giving him a kiss. Sally then looked over at Jane, "How's my little girl?"

The sight of her mother made Jane begin to bounce and rev her engine.

When the sky grew dark and the stars started to show their faces again, Mater drove out to Frank's Field. The smell of farm filled his filter and the sound of snoring tractors filled the air. As the wind gently brushed against his doors, he shivered. Autumn nights are nice and chilly. They were a nice change for those who lived in or near Radiator Springs. The Summer's were so brutal. Mater's eyes shifted back and forth. He even looked up to possibly see his old friend, Mator the UFO, sail just above the Earth's atmosphere.

"Ah know'd he wouldn't show..," Mater mumbled. "Whatta liar."

As he spoke, he began to feel the ground shake and then a flash came from behind him. Headlights. Mater was able to see his own shadow stretched in front of him as a result.

"Who you callin' a liar?" asked a deep scratchy voice. Mater lowered himself a little and gulped. His body started to tremble with fear.

That unmistakable voice.

Bubba's breath made the air behind Mater's rear bumper feel warm.

"Too close for ya?" asked Bubba with a grin.

"Les' git this over with..," said Mater.

"So, what's all this about?", asked Bubba, pushing Mater with just a tap of his tire. Rust slowly sprinkled off of Mater, "Why do you wanna tip tractors with me so bad?"

"Ta' show who is better, but in a nice way," said Mater.

Bubba scoffed, "Nice? You mean in a weak way 'cause you can't fight."

"Fightin' ain't got nobody nowhere."

"Yeah, 'cept a hospital for weak cars like you. Ugh...whatever, Mater. What are the rules?"

Mater stood up tall, cleared his throat and said, "Whoever tips the most tractors within the next hour, will be considered ta be the strongest."

Bubba vibrated his lips together and some of his spit landed on Mater's windshield.

"Pshhh! Strongest? From tippin' little ol' tractors? Is that a joke?"

"If Frank comes and catches ya before the hour is up, then we judge from whoever has the most at that point."

Bubba tilted his body, painted with confusion, "Huh?"

"Ready?"

"What?"

"Set!"

"Wait-"

"GO!"

Mater sped off through the field until you could no longer see him in sight. Bubba wrinkled his eyes in anger and bit his bottom lip.

"Who's Frank..?" he whispered to himself. "'Nother one of your imaginary friends?"

All Bubba heard was the sound of Mater's horn honking off key, a tractor mooing, backfiring, and Mater laughing after all of that. The cycle repeated over and over again. Bubba rolled his eyes and drove off through the misty plane. He looked around for tractors that were standing, but all he kept passing were a line of tractors that have been already tipped with annoyed looks on their faces.

"Heh," Bubba laughed. "These tractors may as well have little signs on them that say: Idiot This Way."

As Bubba kept driving, the line of tractors started to turn. Mater was no longer tipping them in the straight path he was just doing. It turned off track a bit. It's almost as if he was trying to avoid something. Bubba looked straight ahead and saw all of the tractors that Mater turned away from. His eyes widened in astonishment. There were so many all pressed together, sleeping. They looked younger than the other tipped tractors. Little baby tractors, huddled together for warmth.

"I can knock all of 'em out in one honk," Bubba said to himself. "I'll have more than that dipstick, Mater, right after this."

He slowly drove forward sneaking his way to the tractors. Just before he got close enough, he started to crawl, using his tires like an animal with four legs. He was right next to one of the babies.

"Ain't no way Bubba's got more than me!" Mater cheered. He turned around and started to drive back, following the line of tipped tractors. He counted each tractor one by one. Once he got to the part of the line where the tractors started to turn, Mater gasped at the sight he saw. Bubba was right in front of the group of baby tractors, about to honk.

"Bubba, you nuts?" Mater said. Bubba heard Mater and turned to face him.

"You're jus' mad 'cause I'm gonna have more than you right now!" he teased.

"Bubba! No!"

Bubba took in a deep breath.

"Don't do it!" Mater warned again.

But Bubba didn't listen. He exhaled and a loud HOOOOONNNNNNNNKKKKKKKK filled the fences. All of the tractors in the field, not just the babies, woke up and let out moos. They shook for about a minute and started to flip over. After they tipped, all 46 of them, they backfired.

Then, silence.

Bubba started to hop in the air with a huge smile on his face.

"YEEEEEE-HAWWWWW!" Bubba exclaimed. "THAT! That right THERE is how you go TRACTOR TIPPIN'!"

Bubba started to laugh in Mater's face. Mater backed up and shook his hood in disbelief.

"Bubba...what..what'd you do?" asked Mater. His mouth hung open.

"Jealous?", Bubba replied. Mater didn't answer. He turned around and sped away as fast as he could. Bubba watched as Mater's taillights disappeared in the distance. Mater broke through the fence and sped down the road, back to Radiator Springs. No matter how many times he came to Frank's field, he was never able to find the same broken area in the fence. He always made a new one.

Bubba was just there with his engine was idling.

"Such a hurry..," said Bubba. "Sore loser."

He turned around once again to admire the work he just did.

Suddenly, all of the tractors that weren't tipped opened their eyes from their slumber. Their eyes were wide and they didn't even blink. After only a couple of seconds, they all revved up and sped in the opposite direction of Bubba.

Bubba started to feel the ground shake under him. Pebbles jumped off of the ground and loose blades of grass with them. He could feel the vibrations through his shocks.

The vibrations started to get harder and harder, until they stopped on a dime.

Bubba swallowed hard. There was no way it could have been an earthquake. The air behind his rear bumper started to warm up, which made Bubba smirk through his fear.

"Very funny, Mater. Let me guess, now you're gonna ask, 'Too close for ya?'" he said.

A flash of headlights shined on Bubba from behind him and he was able to see his own shadow stretched in front of him.

"Ya know, Mater, I appreciate ya tryin' to be like me by copyin' what I did to ya, but you're doing a bad job at it. I must say that the brightness of your headlight is impressive, considering ya only have one."

There was no answer.

"At a loss for words, Mater?"

Bubba turned around, and his expression dropped as his fear returned to him at full speed. He gasped hard.

In front of him was a silver spinning cylinder of blades. Bubba looked up a bit more and saw it was attached to a huge, red combine harvester with anger boiling within his eyes.

"NNNRAAAAARRRR," screamed the combine.

Bubba immediately started to hyperventilate and he flung himself around. He slammed on his gas pedal and his tires skid in the dirt.

"C'MON!", Bubba yelled at himself. After a few seconds he sped forward, but the giant combine sped right on after him. Bubba was a big truck which meant although he could move pretty fast, it wouldn't be for long. The fence that Mater broke earlier was straight ahead. It came closer and closer.

"GO. LET'S GO," he yelled some more, trying to encourage himself. Bubba's breathing gained more weight to it, getting heavier and heavier. He felt his filters jamming up from it all. His axles started to tremble from the speed and he started to slow down.

"NO! NO! C'MON GO!"

"NNNRAAAAAARRR!"

"C'MON!"

"Raaaaprrrrrr."

Bubba closed his eyes tight and tried to push himself even harder. He switched gears, but that was as fast as he was going to go. His hook swung around behind him in the air, causing it to latch onto one of the combine's blades. The hook started to unravel and it ran around the spinning blades, like a fisherman reeling in his catch. The rope from Bubba's pulley was running out. Finally, the rope was pulled as tight as it could go. Bubba couldn't move anymore. He kept himself on the gas pedal, his tires ripped at the ground, and smoke was started to form from his engine and rear tires. But no matter how much he tried to keep going, he couldn't. His axles became numb.

The combine yanked at Bubba's rope.

Bubba groaned loudly as tears formed in his eyes from the pain.

"HELP ME!" he screamed, at the top of his voice. "SOMEBODY HELP!"

The combine kept pulling at him, showing no mercy. Bubba started to choke up and the tears rolled down his hood. He couldn't take it anymore. He stopped moving, but so did the combine behind him. Bubba turned around and looked at the combine, confused as to why he also stopped bothering, but also because he wanted to give a glance to what would be his fate. He could finally see for himself his rope all jammed up. He turned back to the fence where he was trying to escape and saw he was only inches away.

He failed with a final collapse.

All of Bubba's tired were spread out. He picked up his left front tire, stretched his axle out so it stretched outside of the fence, and placed his tire on his what would have been his freedom. Bubba let his tire sink inside of the mud a bit. He swallowed hard and pulled his tire away.

There was no turning back now. The combine pulled Bubba in and him dragged across the grass. Bubba stopped trying, but he still gripped the grass as he was being dragged. The combine turned on its blades once again.

It only took seconds.

A pile of chunks of metal painted a rusty red color, pieces of rubber from tires, and glass formed behind the combine. As he ate him, something made a clunking noise inside of the combine, but then the noise stopped when the pipe that spit out the chunks of metal now spat out a little metal tow hook with no tow rope. It landed neatly on the pile of the truck's remains.

The combine backed away and started to drive to where it was asleep with his baby tractors, Bubba's tangled tow rope dragged along with him as a souvenir.

No tow hook attached to it, and no Bubba attached either.

A lonely tire track outside of the fence was printed in the wet mud.


	18. Snow Day

**~Chapter 17~**

**"Snow Day"**

The sun slowly rose over Radiator Springs. Snow had already fallen from the cold desert nights, but it always melted a bit when the sun came back up. Only when it was cloudy did the snow stay. This morning, clouds were blocking the sun, but just enough so that a car was able to stare right at the it and see its circular shape a bit.

Mater opened his eyes, weakly, and stretched out his tires. Icicles were hanging from his fenders. He rolled his eyes and groaned. He jumped up and down to knock off the icicles. When they hit the floor, they didn't break. Instead, they rolled around, which gave Mater an idea.

Lightning was sleeping while Sally was with him in the examination room getting ready for work. She shook her hood in disbelief.

"I can never have the whole motel occupied," she said to herself. "I wish I could finally light up my 'no vacancy' sign."

She continued to shake her hood as she drove out of Doc's office and went to work.

Jane opened her eyes. She was asleep under the lift. She looked up and saw her father raised above her, but when she did that, something else caught her eye.

Outside on the windowsill was a pile of snow that glistened in the sunlight. The pupils in Jane's eyes widened. She was in complete and total adoration. She looked up at her father once again. She needed to get his attention.

"Daddy?" she asked.

Lightning continued to snore. His body was gently bobbing up and down from his breathing.

"Daaaaddy?" she asked again.

Still, there was no answer. Jane started to get annoyed. She looked at the pole that was keeping Lightning lifted on the lift. She knocked her tire on it a few times while staring up at Lightning. There was still no reaction. Jane exhaled heavily and stomped her tire on the ground. Something inside of Jane made a quick clicking noise when she did that. Jane looked back and forth wondering where the noise came from, but there was nothing out of place. After a few seconds, she decided she didn't care at all about the noise, because she just wanted to get her father's attention. She stared at the pole again, revving at it. This time, she was going to knock herself into it. She revved some more and accelerated, but instead of going forward, she flung herself backward, and rolled over the switch.

The lift pulled down fast and Lightning slammed into the ground. His eyes shot open in fear and he started to pant.

"Bubba no!" he yelled, thinking he fell off of the cliff again. As he kept breathing, he started to take in his surroundings again. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed. "You go boom!"

Lightning groaned and in a baby voice he said, "Yes, daddy went boom. Now daddy needs to keep himself cool before he screams really loud and breaks every window.."

"Daddy look!" Jane exclaimed. She pointed with her tire at the window. Lightning looked over and saw the snow.

"Oh...your first snowfall," said Lightning. "You want to go see?"

Jane nodded fast. She accelerated, but went reverse again. She was very confused.

"Honey, get yourself out of reverse," said Lightning. "I don't want Mater to see that and start teaching you how to drive badly. You're going to grow up to be a racer. You need to be a professional like your father."

Lightning smiled - at himself. Jane struggled with her gears and eventually got herself out of reverse.

"Come on, Jane. Let's go outside."

"Daddy drive now?"

"Yeah, daddy can drive now."

They both drove to the door.

"Now, I'm warning you now. It's going to feel cold, but it's very fun to play with. If mommy knew you were going outside though..she'll have engine failure. Another thing, ice is not good to drive on. You will slip and slide. I know you've seen people sliding around on ice on the TV, but they are professionals. You can't do that," Lightning paused for a moment, "Yes, you can do that. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. It just takes a lot of time, effort, willpower, and practice..but if you get one scratch on you when you're out there, Ramone and your mother will hurt me. They will hurt me in ways that are worse than what Bubba did to me. Especially mommy. Understand?"

Jane nodded.

"One more thing," Lightning started.

Jane rolled her eyes.

"If you see a car that doesn't look right, run here, and tell daddy. Also, stay away from cars you don't know. Also, don't speed. Wait, no, speed, you need to practice racing. Wait, no, don't speed, there's ice out there. Wait..no..just be careful okay?"

Jane nodded slower, more forced.

"One more thing," Lightning started again.

Jane shut her eyes.

"Stay away from crazy cars. Now, let's go."

When Jane heard that last part, she opened her eyes quickly and smiled. Lightning opened the door and Mater was parked right in front of them. He had two icicles stuck behind his upper lip.

"Look!" Mater shouted. "Ahm a walrus!"

Jane stared at Mater with an even bigger smile on her face and laughed really hard.

Lightning remembered what he said about crazy cars to her, leaned over to her, and said, "Jane, stay inside."

Lightning studied Mater some more.

"Take those out of your mouth," he said. "Before you hurt yourself."

Mater chuckled, "Ain't gonna-"

Suddenly, he gasped.

"Hey, Jane!" Mater exclaimed. "Has you ever seen snow?"

Jane shook her head 'no' and tilted her head to hear more about it.

"Mater," said Lightning. He cringed at what he was about to say, "Can you take care of Jane for me?"

"Sure thing, buddy!"

"Keep an eye on her! No, you're too literal, keep both eyes on her."

"It's gonna be fine!"

"Make sure she listens to you and make sure you're listening to me."

"I hear ya!"

"Sally will be very mad if she finds out anything bad happened to her."

"I know, Lightning."

"Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Positive?"

"Yes!"

"Mater, if she has one mark on her-"

"Dad-gum, you're annoyin'!"

Mater hooked his tow-hook to Jane's bumper. He tugged on it a little bit so Lightning saw it was tight, "See? I got 'er. I won't let go."

Lightning sighed and said, "Listen, Mater, I know you're my best friend and all, but this is the first time we- I mean, the first time I let anyone else take care of Jane. If Sally found out-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Mater scoffed. "She'll hurt ya."

Lightning looked down at Jane and frowned. Jane was too busy bouncing from excitement to notice. Mater saw a look in Lightning's face that he never saw before, but even he knew what it meant. He drove close to Lightning, bumped his tire on his, and said, "I won't let go."

Lightning looked back up at Mater.

"Promise?" he whispered.

"Promise," Mater assured. "Now get back in there an' rest."

Lightning took one last look at Jane and turned around to drive away. Once Lightning was clear out of view, Mater smiled.

"Whooooo-weeee!" he exclaimed. "Let's play!"

Mater sped out with Jane to Frank's field. The snow was so thick there since there weren't many cars who drove by, so the snow was able to keep its shape for the most part. The way the sun hit the snow was so beautiful. It was almost as if Mater was staring into a field of diamonds stuck on white glue. Jane was hooked behind Mater from her rear bumper, facing away from him. She planted her hood into the snow and shook around to move the snow about. She pulled it out and shivered.

"C-Cold!" she squealed. Mater nodded and continued to drive. He passed the area where Frank sleeps.

"Hey, ya see that?" asked Mater, pointing to the area. Mater let some rope go, so that Jane was able to move about. Jane drove around Mater with his hook still attached and took a look.

"Uh-huh," said Jane.

"Don't go near here," said Mater.

"Why?" asked Jane.

"'Cause the big, bad wolf will git ya!"

Jane gasped and backed away. Mater giggled and tightened up his tow hook again.

"Now, don't you start worrying on me, kid," said Mater. "You your daddy's daughter."

Jane didn't quite understand what that meant, so she didn't answer. Mater continued to drive until he reached an open area; not a tree in sight. It was just Mater and Jane. The only thing around them was a white floor and a blue sky. It was like they were on the blank page of a fresh book and their tire marks made the words each time they drove an inch. The snow was so white, the only way Mater was able to see Jane was to look out for her mismatched eyes. Mater looked around and took a deep breath in. The cold winter air stuck inside of his filters and released when warm air inside of him fought against it.

"Smell that?" asked Mater. "That's the smell of real fresh air."

Jane took a deep breath in and then coughed. The cold air irritated her.

"Don't worry," said Mater. "You get used to it when you've breathed cold air for your entire life."

Mater grinned and said, "Yep, you're just a baby car. You're no bigger than my door. You're exhaust is cleaner than my exhaust."

He let some of his rope go so he could turn to face Jane and when he faced her, he drove close to her.

He sniffed her, "..and ya still got that 'new car' smell."

Mater tightened his tow hook again then paused.

"Ya know?" he said. "It's kinda hard to talk to ya when you're always behind me. Ya heard what you're daddy said about talking to a car ya don't know, right?"

"Yes."

"Ya heard what you're daddy said about drivin'on ice, right?"

"Yes."

"Ya know to always listen to your daddy, right?"

"Yes."

"Then I think you should come and drive next to me!"

Mater unhooked Jane. Her eyes lit up and she drove around went next to Mater.

"Now that you're here, let me show ya how to make a snow car!"

Mater took off and drove farther into the blank snow field. Jane was speeding behind him. Suddenly a white bunny popped out of the snow. It was so hard to see, and Mater was able to drive right over it because he's so small, but when she finally saw it she Jane slammed on her brakes and swerved around the bunny. She swerved onto snow that was piled thinly on ice that no car would have been able to see it.

She slid back in the direction in which she and Mater drove from, and kept sliding, getting farther and farther away from Mater. She went to scream Mater's name, but Mater wasn't in sight anymore. Jane slammed on her breaks, but her tires locked, and she kept sliding. She moved her tires around to try to get a grip on the ice, but it was impossible. She kept sliding until she eventually hit a rock, just big enough to form a speed bump, that bashed into her front tires, and brought her to rest. Jane breathed heavily.

In the distance, she heard a car, a woman crying. She looked around and in the same distance and saw a red, 1995 Ford Mustang.

The Mustang ran her tires over little bits of red metal that were buried under the snow that had fallen overnight.

"Daddy..," she whispered. She started to sob, "That ol' Frank git ya? Well, I'm gonna git 'em next."

Jane knew not to talk to strange cars, but Jane saw this car was crying, and couldn't help but want to help, so she drove over to the car.

"Hi," she said. The Mustang jerked, out of surprise, and turned around. She looked down at the baby Porsche. Jane was now able to get a good look at her. The Mustang had two green eyes that looked like gems and pouty lips. Her red paint job was just a red paint job from far away, but if a car drove that close to her, he or she would see that this Mustang's paintjob was more than that. This paint was glossy and was filled with glitter. This red paint job was so plain, yet so complicated. Ramone couldn't even do a job like this ruby.

"Well, howdy there, little one. Ya sure look like an expensive little bitty. Where your parents at?" the mustang asked. Her voice was so soft. Her voice was softer than Sally's; so delicate that it seemed like if she yelled her voice would break into a billion pieces.

"I'm lost-ed..," Jane told her.

The mustang pressed her lips together and lowered her eyelids.

"Aw, you poor little thing," she said. Jane looked over at the metal bits on the floor.

"Why did you call those 'daddy'?" asked Jane. The mustang looked like she was about to cry and one could hear her voice starting to crack.

"He died last night," said the mustang. "Torn apart by that stupid 'ol combine over in that there place."

She used her tire to point to the same area Mater told her to stay away from.

"That's something you kinda have to expect out here with dangerous animals," she continued. "It's easy to have someone you love killed."

Jane tilted her body in confusion.

"What's 'killed'?" asked Jane. The Mustang looked over at Jane and mirrored the confused look on her face.

"Ya don't know what being killed means?" said the mustang.

Jane shook her head, "No."

The mustang chuckled and said, "You've got a lot to learn."

Mater stopped at a spot in the snow field that looked just like the one he left, but he promised it was different.

"Now," said Mater. "I'm gonna show you how to make a snow car."

Mater gathered some snow together, so it started as a weird pile.

"Now you try."

Mater turned around to Jane, who wasn't there. Mater wasn't worried though. Jane was white so she blended in with the snow pretty well. He looked around for eyes, but couldn't find them.

"Jane!" he called out. He felt his engine beginning to race.

"JANE! Where are you!?"

Mater turned in circles over and over. Finally, he stopped, "Oh no.."

"What's your name? Is it 'Leo'?" asked the mustang.

"Leo?" asked Jane. "Jane! What's 'Leo'?"

"Oh, I was just shortenin' 'Little Expensive One'."

"Oh…I'm Jane."

"Jane? That's pretty silly!"

"Why?"

"It's so plain!"

"What's 'plain'?"

"Plain. Plain? Plain basically means, well, worthless."

"Daddy says it's like 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'."

"Your daddy based your name off of a silly lil' rhyme?"

Jane still didn't really understand, but she couldn't help but feel like she did something wrong. She looked down at her hood.

"I'll just call ya 'Leo', Jane. 'Cause you're so expensive lookin'. I think it's less, ya know, stupid."

"Okay…"

"Really, Leo?"

"What?"

"You're not even mad?"

"Daddy says I shouldn't know what mad is 'til I'm married."

"Well, you're daddy sorta got somethin' right. Even so, I just made fun of your name, Leo! That's your name! The only thing ya really own in this world. Even so, ya don't really own it. Other cars may have your name. I mean, come on. Your name is 'Jane'. That's pretty bland enough to have thousands of cars with the same name."

"What's 'bland'?"

"It means plain."

There was that word again. Even with the mustang's explanation, she didn't get it, "What's your name?"

"My name is Vermella."

"Ver-may-ya?"

"Yes. It's spelled: V-E-R-M-E-L-L-A. Hear that double 'L'? That makes a 'y' sound in my name."

"Sounds pretty!"

"Thank you. So you're Leo and what's my name?"

"Huh?"

"Yes, you're Leo now. What's my name?"

"Ver-may-ya."

"Good. Say it again."

"Ver-may-ya."

"One more time."

"Vermella."


	19. Hide and Seek Needs Two

**Author's Note:**

Hello again. I know it's been a while, but once again college got in the way of my writing. When I'm not in school, I'm at work, and unfortunately that means I have no time to write. The good news is that the semester is over and I got all my finals done, so that means I'll have plenty of time to edit and add the rest of the already written chapters, and then I'll finally be able to type up all of the new chapters. The writing style won't be as bad since they'll be fresh, never posted, newly written chapters instead of chapters I literally wrote years ago when I was in high school. So hopefully that gives you guys something to look forward to!

In the meantime, here's one of the **few **more already written chapters. Again, I'm shocked that people still read this fic! I'm just as humbled as well. I said it before, and I'll say it again now, I cannot thank you guys enough. I'm thankful for anyone that even reads a word of my writing, no matter who it is. No matter if I get a review, no matter if it's liked or disliked, I write because it makes me feel good. Even if the fandom can't agree on some things, contributing makes me feel good. I've liked the movie since I was a little, as many of us have, so it makes me feel little again when I write for the movies. It relieves a lot of stress. To know that there are some who do like my writing makes me feel so happy and I'm only sorry that I can't express it enough through a computer screen. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

**Five** more recycled chapters to go before the new ones start coming in (after chapter 23).

**~Chapter 18~**

**"Hide and Seek Needs Two"**

Nightfall has arrived quickly. Sally was gathering her papers together by shuffling them around with her tires. She then reviewed all of the cars that were staying at her motel one more time before she left.

_I just can't get cone number four to sell,_ she thought, _Oh well._

She drove to the exit of her motel's lobby and shut off the lights. She pulled out of the parking lot and crossed the street to Doc's clinic. When she drove through the doors, she wiped her tires on the mat.

"Hello there, Mrs. McQueen!" said Nurse GTO from across the room. Sally looked over.

"How are you?" asked Sally.

"I'm doing well, but I don't think Lightning is."

Sally felt engine sink from those words. She tried to think of all of the possible things that could have happened to Lightning while she was gone, but nothing seemed to fit.

"Why do you say that?" asked Sally.

"Well, just a few minutes ago, he was out here asking me where Mater was with your daughter. She was out all day with him. Those two must be getting along so well! I'm telling you, I've never seen such a bright smile on your daughter's face! When she saw that snow for the first time, oh it was so cute! I wish I had my camera!"

Sally was stuck on the words 'asking me where Mater was with your daughter'. Sally told Lightning to stay with her and take care of her. She told him to keep an eye on her.

"With…Mater?" Sally asked.

"Yes, Jane was with Mater all day long! You know, I'm surprised you would trust her with him. You know, because he's…well...he's special! They were gone since dawn!"

Sally's oil boiled inside of her with pure vexation.

"I'm sure everything's okay though, Sal. Once they come back, Lightning will have nothing to worry about! It's funny, you know? I thought you'd be more worried because you have more sense than Lightning, but you seem to be the calm one!"

Sally's pupils shrank and she clenched her teeth together.

"Is Lightning still here?" she asked through her teeth.

"Yes." said Nurse GTO.

Sally ignored Nurse GTO after that and sped right to his room. Nurse GTO just stared at Sally's taillights as she drove away.

"Well...goodnight…" said Nurse GTO, to herself.

Lightning was parked in front of a window, staring at the road Mater left with Jane on. His lips were curled in so he didn't create that much steam on the window with his breath. Every now and then though, he needed to breathe. So when he did, he wiped the window with his tire so that it would clear up.

"Come on, Mater..before Sally gets here..," Lightning whispered.

Sally was just about to slam herself inside when she came to a sudden stop. Lightning always got himself into trouble. Sally knew that the best part about knowing he did something wrong, was torturing him about it. However, there was nothing Lightning ever did that was on such a huge scale like this one. This wasn't going to stop her for playing with his mind a bit.

Sally took in a deep breath. She fought with gravity as she lifted her lips into a fake smile. Her tires vibrated while fighting back the urge to hit any object around her. She pressed her right front tire on the switch that opened the garage door to Lightning's room. The door made a humming noise and it rattled up. Lightning heard this, gasped, and jumped. He could feel his throat closing up and the saliva in his mouth starting to dry up. He brought his tires in close to his body and he sunk down. His lips started to quiver. The deep blue color in his eyes started to fade a little while his pupils grew.

Sally drove inside of the room and the garage door closed behind her. She forced words out of her mouth.

"Hello there, sweet-" she cleared her throat, "-heart."

By the looks of Lightning, Sally was able to tell that he knew he did something very wrong. Lightning lifted himself off of his tires.

"Hey," he said.

Lightning looked at Sally's eyes and saw how small her pupils were. They weren't normal.

"Where's Jane? She usually speeds over to me when I come home from work. It's a bit odd that she isn't," said Sally, "Is she feeling okay?"

"Ye-Yeah…," said Lightning, "Well…I don't know…"

Sally's smile faded.

"She was playing in the snow..," he said, "All she wanted to do was play in the snow…"

Sally drove closer to Lightning and parked in his face. He was able to feel Sally's breath as she spoke to him.

"Lightning," she said firmly.

Lightning began to back away a little because of how close she was, but Sally grabbed under his chin with her tire and pulled him back into her face.

"Where's my baby, Stickers?"

"I…she wanted to play in the-"

"Where's my baby, Stickers?"

"With…Mater has her…"

"Where is _my_ baby?"

"_Mater_ has her!"

"Why don't _you_ have her?" Sally let go of Lightning's chin.

"I already answered you.."

"Dammit, I want to know where Jane is right now!" Sally exclaimed. Lightning flinched at her words. He started to see two of Sally. After that, he started to see two of everything. The whole room felt like some screwed up amusement park ride. Lightning felt sick to his gas tank.

"You know what? Forget this..really..marriage? Married to a man who can't even watch his own child? No wonder Flo and Ramone never had one. I'm leaving you, Lightning."

Lightning struggled to move forward, to get to Sally.

"No, Sally..please.."

"I can't do this with you."

The floor wobbled like ocean waves under Lightning and he was the boat. He swam over the tiles and grabbed one of Sally's tires. He held it with one of his.

"Sally, I love you. Just don't leave me."

Sally shook her hood, "No."

"Sally, don't do this. If…if you pull your tire away from mine, then that means you're really leaving me."

Sally looked over at her tire. Lighting looked over at his tire. For that one moment, the tires touching each other were the only thing Lightning could see clearly. Lightning's world was holding his tire. All of their memories would mean nothing. They would just be lost in the ocean of tiles that Lightning was floating on. Those sleepless nights Sally had, when Lightning was away for his races, would be wasted hours. Those tears she shed when he almost left, they'd be wasted. She loosened her grip. Lightning spread his lips apart in a bit of shock. He looked away from the tires and instead, into her eyes. A sorrowful look. She noticed him staring in the corning of her windshield and she looked back at him with a blank expression on her face. A perk of being an attorney in the past. Lightning drove forward a bit and got his lips close to Sally's.

"Can I…?" he asked. Sally didn't say a word. Lightning just went on with it. He leaned in to kiss Sally, but right before his lips touched hers, Sally let go of his tire and threw herself in reverse. Lightning didn't move. He didn't cry. He didn't even make a sound. He just idled there in that one spot and stared at her.

"I'm sorry, but…but you promised you would be a good fath-..you weren't."

Lightning didn't blink. He just kept staring.

_Just try again, Lighting. Go over to her and tell her you love her again,_ thought Lightning.

Lightning stumbled over to the garage entrance to get inside of his room. He blocked it off from her.

"Sally, I love you, and I won't let you leave."

Sally drove over to the door, even though Lightning was there, and said, "Sorry, but that isn't your choice."

"I don't want you to leave me, Sally."

"Well, I want to know that my daughter is safe. I want to know that my daughter is looking for us. I want to know that my daughter hasn't been eaten by a combine. I want to know that Mater didn't go ice fishing and accidentally left her on the hook to be used as bait. I want to know that my daughter is still out there. I want to know that my daughter is still alive."

"You kept saying 'my daughter'. She's my daughter too, you know."

"You sure don't act like she's your daughter."

"He's my _best friend_."

Sally backed away, rolling her eyes.

"You know, another thing, for someone so calm, Mater takes a lot of ridicule. You know why he's able to take it? He's able to take it because he doesn't know any better. He doesn't know any better because he grew up blind to the outside world. His mother didn't let him go outside that much, like normal mothers do. Why do you think he never wears his hood in public? It's because he never had to wear it in private. He was never taught manners, because he never had to use them. He used to bother me, but after I took a second to think about his situation, I learned that it isn't even his fault."

Sally looked down at her hood, "Lightning, I-"

"And..as for me being a bad father? Racing is my life, Sally. Do you know how hard it was to actually quit racing for a season? I did that for her, Sally. I quit racing just to be with Jane. I love Jane with all of my heart. I love her with every single bolt in my body. Every single thing that I'm put together with has love for Jane in it. Do I make mistakes? Yes, I do. I'm only an automobile. I'm not perfect at all. Those manuals that come with a new car don't tell you how to raise it. It only tells you the basic rules to taking care of it. I think I'm doing pretty well as a father for the first time. For the first time ever in my life, I'm a father. For the first time ever, in _your_ life, you're a mother. How in this world can you call me a bad father when you don't even have something to compare it to?

"The only cars in this town who have something to compare bad parenting to are Mater and I. We're the only ones, Sally. I don't know Mater's story completely, but I know a lot of it, and maybe he'll share it to you one day. Maybe. He trusts me not to tell anyone, so I won't. As for me, when I was a kid, by the time my dad actually got time to spend with me, he was killed. Racing is an addiction, but you wouldn't know that because you were built a Porsche. It's in my _nature_ to race, Sally, which is more of a reason why it's amazing that I'm doing as well as I am.

"We're not always built into the job we want to have for the rest of our lives. My father, he let his nature get the best of him. That's why he wasn't in my life like I'm in Jane's life. I'm fighting my nature _pretty_ hard. The last thing I need is for you to tell me that I'm a bad father. Because, I know, for a fact, that I'm a great father. Now, I'm not letting you leave me. I grew up with only one parent. I grew up with just my mother. I know how horrible that feels. I'm not letting Jane grow up without her father. We're staying together. Don't you remember, Sally? To infinity and beyond. That's _more_ than forever."

Sally couldn't believe all of the things she heard. Her tears slowly rolled down her hood from her windshield. Although it meant Lightning got his point across, he still couldn't stand to see her have tears in her eyes. He rolled over to her and pressed his lips against hers. In a low, chocked up voice he asked, "To infinity and beyond?"

Sally sniffled and nodded, "To infinity and beyond.."

He took Sally's tire again and held it tight, "Let's just..find _our_ baby, Sally."


End file.
